La storia del biologico

It is widely believed that organic farming originated in the more general context of the ‘ecological spring’ in the early 1970s, which in fact favoured the development of organic food production and consumption, then mostly understood as ‘pesticide-free’ products. In reality, the organic movement was born much earlier, as early as the 19th century, and began to gain prominence in the period between the two world wars, as a reaction to the industrialisation of agriculture following the spread of mechanisation and synthetic fertilisers. The book traces the ‘adventurous history’ of organic farming through important events and figures. The last part of the book is dedicated to emerging issues, such as the relationship of organic farming with biotechnology, bioeconomics and agroecology. Piero Bevilacqua writes: ‘The first and perhaps most important ideal reason for this book is to provide historical roots for the organic movement, which is not an economic sector like any other but a highly original mixture of scientific knowledge and humanistic values, of alternative worldviews and projects for the future order of society’.