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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Can Organic Farming Feed Us All?

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  • From: Terry Wereb <frosted-acres@sbcglobal.net>
  • To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Can Organic Farming Feed Us All?
  • Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 18:48:12 -0700 (PDT)

hey, nice thought!

Terry W

--- TradingPostPaul <tradingpost@riseup.net> wrote:

>
> 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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