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

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  • From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Can Organic Farming Feed Us All?
  • Date: Sun, 16 Apr 2006 09:30:31 -0600


Of course, those who feel a little poison is better than a lot of poison are
perfectly free to use what they euphemistically refer to as an "integrative
system".

paul, tradingpost@riseup.net
---------------
The outstanding scientific discovery of the twentieth century is not
television, or radio, but rather the complexity of the land organism. Only
those who know the most about it can appreciate how little we know about it.
- Aldo Leopold in Round River, 1933
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********

On 4/16/2006 at 7:32 AM Phil Bunch wrote:

>Remember the discussion we had a while back about integrating the use of
>"chemical" and "organic: methods of providing nutrients to crops? The quote
>below appears to support the concept.
>
>Phil Bunch
>
>> 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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