Definition of Organic Farming

Organic farming is defined in the broader sense of environment protection, economical crop production, social concerns, local self-supporting systems development, nutrients’ recycling and nature’s respect. A complete definition has been recently published (Ammann 2008) by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM).

Agricultural scientists are not unanimous on the use of transgenic or genetically modified organism (GMO) seeds in the context of organic farming. For example, IFOAM emphasises on refraining from use of GMO in organic agricultural practice. On the other hand, Ammann argues for why organic farmers should use transgenic crops (Ammann 2008). In fact, despite using heavy amounts of synthetic pesticides, most of EU countries have stopped GMO seed application in farms (Clive 2014). On the other side, India approved in 2015 field trials of transgenic crops—rice, cotton, maize, mustard, brinjal and chickpea—within practices for organic farming (Kumar 2015). In the context of Indian organic farming practices, the success story of the Indian NPOP in the twenty-first century is worth mentioning.