On the heels of the Bullshit episode on organic food, the rallying cry seems to be that organic food can’t feed the world, which means that people will starve to death if we all of a sudden adopt organic farming as the primary means of food production. While there are a number of things wrong with this argument, we’ll let a University professor with no ties to agri-business answer it.
Christos Vasilikiotis, Ph.D. is a prof at Berkeley. In his paper that we linked to above, “Can Organic Farming ‘Feed the World’?”, he examines this problem in depth and in clear language that most people will be able to understand. Some of the highlights:
Do we really need to embark upon another risky technological fix to solve the mistakes of a previous one? Instead, we should be looking for solutions that are based on ecological and biological principles and have significantly fewer environmental costs. There is such an alternative that has been pioneered by organic farmers. In contrast to the industrial/monoculture approach advocated by the biotech industry, organic agriculture is described by the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) as “a holistic production management system which promotes and enhances agro-ecosystem health, including biodiversity, biological cycles, and soil biological activity.”
- Organic grain and soybean production in the Midwestern United States
A comprehensive review of a large number of comparison studies of grain and soybean production conduct by six Midwestern universities since 1978 found that in all of these studies organic production was equivalent to, and in many cases better than, conventional (Welsh, 1999). Organic systems had higher yields than conventional systems which featured continuous crop production (no rotations) and equal or lower yields in conventional systems that included crop rotations. In the drier climates such as the Great Plains, organic systems had higher yields, as they tend to be better during droughts than conventional systems. In one such study in South Dakota for the period 1986-1992, the average yields of soybeans were 29.6 bushels/acre and 28.6 bushels/acre in the organic and conventional systems respectively. In the same study, average spring wheat yields were 41.5 bushels/acre and 39.5 bushels/acre in the organic and conventional systems respectively.
Read it and draw your own conclusions. My conclusion is that the truth tends to come from people that aren’t on anyone’s payroll but an academic one.
Tags: agri-business, can organic food feed the world, Monsanto, organic food can't feed the world, organic food episode bullshit
Comments (5)
you say “on anyone’s payroll but an academic one.” but you only source one person who is Christos Vasilikiotis a well known advocate for organic farming. That is hardly academic. I’m rather neutral on the subject as I see both are necessary. if you want a real academic look at the situation try this
http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4166
I have to agree with the comment below mine. Not only did you use one person as your backup, but your sources are doing nothing more than advocating their own biased opinion. It is true that some of the facts from the show Bullshit were weak, but it still provided more than enough information. Not only was your source weak, but the evidence provided seemed weak. Rather than trying to provide fact with the use of “Six Midwestern universities”and their studies, why don’t you try to provide facts from sources that are actually locatable. I’m sure if you took a peek at the Consumer Reports and the studies taken place over the last 30+ years would make you think twice about posting an incredibly weak argument. Organic does not taste better, does not provide healthier foods, and is CERTAINLY not better for the environment. So, all of you Green Movement crazies need to be aware of the fallacious schemes and statements the man has fooled you with in order to get you to pay more money to live a decent lifestyle.
Yep. Fighting “bullshit” with bullshit. That should work, shouldn’t it? No?
Hell, organic can’t feed its own freakin’ elitists, much less the world.
So… organic farming is as good as or better than conventional farming that neglects the key task of crop rotation? Yeah, I’m sold.
“My conclusion is that the truth tends to come from people that aren’t on anyone’s payroll but an academic one.”
Read: “I’ll cherrypick science I agree with from people who have ties to organic industries while simultaneously fabricating conspiracy theories to accuse the science I don’t agree with of doing the same.”