The first use of the term organic in the agricultural sense was by Lord Northbourne in his 1940 work Look to the Land.

"The best can only spring from that kind of biological completeness which has been called wholeness. If it is to be attained, the farm itself must have a biological completeness; it must be a living entity, it must be a unit which has within itself a balance organic life. Every branch of work is interlocked with all others. The cycle of conversion of vegetable products through the animal into manure and back to vegetables is of great complexity, and highly sensitive, especially over long periods, to any disturbance of its proper balance. The penalty for failure to maintain this balance, is in the long run, a progressive impoverishment of the soil. Real fertility can only be built up gradually under a system appropriate to the conditions of each particular farm, and by adherence to the essentials of that system, whatever they may be in each case, over long periods."