An Investigation of the Myths Surrounding Organic Farming

An Even Deeper Look into Organic Farming

Christie Wilcox criticizes and clarifies the myths of organic farming in her article “Mythbusting 101: Organic Farming>Conventional Farming.” Her article makes three main points and each one of her points outlines a myth about organic farming. Although the article is made to clarify the unclear facts about organic agriculture, Wilcox inaccurately informs consumers throughout the text.

The article begins with a clarification of organic agriculture’s use of pesticides. Wicox first explains that organic farming does, indeed, use pesticides. She then summarizes the pesticides’ abundance in organic farming and effects of using pesticides with evidence from scientific research. The sources that the article uses creates a trustworthy bed of proof and evidence to support the author’s claims until each and every source is looked in to. One of the statements used as support in the article, “Many natural pesticides have been found to be potential – or serious – health risks” (Wilcox), is outdated by 12 years. Also, as pointed out by Tom Philpott, Wilcox fails to explain that although natural pesticides can be harmful, that “organic food is clearly consumers' best bet for avoiding pesticide traces on their food.” Wilcox’s inaccurate claims are fed by her inaccurate sources and they continue to show up throughout her article.

Next, Wilcox attempts to clarify that organic foods are not any healthier than conventionally produced foods. The author follows her format of presenting a claim and following closely with evidence from scientific articles. The strict format that Wilcox follows keeps the text as a whole clear and makes its ideas flow, but ultimately fails to present any possible counterclaims to the points made. For example, the article claims that “… science simply cannot find any evidence that organic foods are in any way healthier than non-organic ones – and scientist have been comparing the two for over 50 years” (Wilcox). The claim ends with that definite statement. As pointed out by Philpott, Wilcox is mistaken by stopping her claim there. Philpott explains how even the sources that Wilcox used outline that the studies themselves conducted on organic and conventional crops had a “‘paucity of available data’” (Philpott). Wilcox completely overlooks important information in her sources which creates fallacies in the essay.

Lastly, Wilcox makes a claim that organic farming is, in fact, more ecologically damaging than conventional farming is. She points out how most consumers believe that organic farming is better for the environment and then goes on to prove her statement. Her supporting statements revolve around pesticide use and the organic farmers’ avoidance of GMOs. Yet again, Wilcox ignores important information that proves her claim wrong. She states that “GMOs have the potential to up crop yields, increase nutritious value, and generally improve farming practices while reducing synthetic chemical use…” (Wilcox). Wilcox’s claims are supported by the articles she cites, but not by all published articles. Although her statements are mostly true, other articles, as pointed out by Tom Philpott, prove that GMOs are not the best route to take to improve agriculture’s yields without effecting the environment in a negative way. Tom Philpott states that “she ignores an emerging consensus among ag scientists and development specialists that directly contradicts her assertions.” Christie Wilcox’s article isn’t effective or clear because of all of the contradictions that undoubtedly surround her statements.

Christie Wilcox attempts to clarify the myths that surround organic farming in her article titled “Mythbusting 101: Organic Farming>Conventional Farming” but only succeeds in confusing her audience of consumers. Although her three main statements and explanations seem clear and flow very well, they not as thought out as she makes them out to be. The examples that she makes are all negated by articles that she did not look in to. All in all, Christie Wilcox’s article about organic farming has more weaknesses than strengths, thus making it ineffective.