Many crops are better grown in greenhouses, where pests can be kept out or controlled without pesticides, and plants can be grown in stone wool and given exactly the nutrients they need. That should count as organic, but unfortunately doesn't.
They take images from satellites and measure sizes of fields, width of hedgerows, identify the type of crop that's being grown and determine if the farmer is following crop rotation guidelines, etc. Farmers only get subsidies if they follow the guidelines. This is done to limit soil erosion and protect the environment.
Small farms don't have the capital for the most environmentally friendly technology. Locally is not necessarily the best place for food production. That the farmer respects nature and animals is a bit beside the point for solving the problem of global food production in a sustainable way.
Pesticides start a downward spiral because the soil quality gets worse and worse. So the plants are less and less nutritious. No amount of artificial fertilizer can replace the delicate balance of nature. Beliving you can outsmart a complex system such as nature with just by adding some additional fertilizer clearly demonstrates a severe lack of understanding that nature requires a complicated cycle THAT JUST WORKS BY ITSELF if you don't mess with it.
Imagine not realising that organic farming involves using herbicides, etc. and there are are plenty of natural ones more deadly than their artificial counterparts. The subject of herbicides, fungicides and insecticides is actually a massive, complicated topic. There are some artificial ones totally harmless to humans. Natural doesn't mean anything. You want some all-natural tapeworms? Better not take any man-made substances to treat them.
What does 'JUST WORKS BY ITSELF' even mean? It doesn't work to feed us, has no regard for human survival, or survival of any anything for that matter. Something like 98% of all species that have even lived are extinct.
Fertiliser and pesticide has little effect on soil quality per se, unless grossly misused. Primary issues of soil quality are overfarming, erosion, crop rotation, cover crop/ leaving fields bare, etc.
1. "Researchers at Oxford University analyzed 71 peer-reviewed studies and observed that organic products are sometimes worse for the environment."
2. "According to a 2012 meta-analysis of 71 studies, nitrogen leaching, nitrous oxide emissions, ammonia emissions, eutrophication potential and acidification potential were higher for organic products"
3. "The Oxford meta-analysis of 71 studies found that organic farming requires 84% more land for an equivalent amount of harvest"
4. "there is insufficient evidence to make claims that organic food is safer or healthier than conventional food"
The list goes on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_farming