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  • From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Can Organic Farming Feed Us All?
  • Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 12:53:35 -0600


What about this?

paul, tradingpost@riseup.net
---------------

World Watch Magazine: May/ June 2006
http://www.worldwatch.org/pubs/mag/2006/193/
Can Organic Farming Feed Us All?
-Brian Halweil

Two recent studies reveal that a global shift to organic farming would yield
more food, not less, for the world's hungry, writes Worldwatch Institute
Senior Researcher Brian Halweil in "Can Organic Farming Feed Us All?" Organic
farming tends to raise yields in poorer nations, precisely those areas where
people are hungry and can't afford chemical-intensive farming. Where there is
a yield gap between conventional and organic crops, it tends to be widest in
wealthy nations, where farmers use copious amounts of synthetic fertilizers
and pesticides in a perennial attempt to maximize yields. "In poorer nations,
organic farming techniques like composting and green manuring and biological
pest control may be farmers' best hope for boosting production and reducing
hunger," writes Halweil.

Beyond this yield advantage, organic farming has proven benefits for
wildlife, water and air quality, and food safety. And while analysts on the
two sides of this issue are constantly at odds, some experts are starting to
advocate a middle path that uses many of the principles of organic farming
and depends on just a fraction of the chemicals used in conventional
agriculture. Such an integrative system, they believe, would have great
benefits for farmers, consumers, and the environment. "The lack of widespread
support for organic farming from governments, industry, and farmer
organizations is short-sighted and may ultimately be contributing to world
hunger," says Halweil.







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