Which farming approach relies on biodiversity and natural ecological processes rather than synthetic inputs?

• A. Organic farming
• B. CAFOs
• C. Intensive agriculture
• D. Terrace farming

Answer: (A)

Farming methods that rely on biodiversity and natural ecological processes rather than synthetic inputs focus on working with ecosystems to produce food. Organic farming does this by boosting soil health and pest management through natural means: crop rotations and diverse plantings to interrupt pest cycles, intercropping to support beneficial organisms, compost and manures to build soil fertility, cover crops to protect and enrich the soil, and biological pest control using natural predators. It deliberately avoids synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, letting ecological processes drive productivity.

The other options don’t fit this approach as their central idea. Large-scale animal operations house many animals in confined spaces and depend on external feeds and additives, not biodiversity-based methods. Intensive agriculture relies on high external inputs like synthetic fertilizers and pesticides and often monocultures. Terrace farming is a land-management technique for erosion control on slopes, not a farming system defined by biodiversity-driven ecology.