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nafex - Re: [nafex] FW: organic works - the evidence

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  • From: Ed & Pat Fackler <rocmdw@aye.net>
  • To: nafex@yahoogroups.com
  • Subject: Re: [nafex] FW: organic works - the evidence
  • Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 10:42:42 -0400

This sounds like something our former President (of the US) would have
written!!!

Ed, heaven, lovin'it, etc.

"Lon J. Rombough" wrote:

> ----------
> From: kathryn marsh
> To: OGL@LSV.UKY.EDU
> Subject: organic works - the evidence
> Date: Fri, Apr 20, 2001, 3:24 AM
>
> from todays "Nature"
>
> Nature Science Update is an entertaining, informative and accessible
> round-up of what's new in the world of science brought to you by
> the Nature News Service -- the popular science syndication arm of
> the leading international science journal Nature.
> To find out about buying news and features like this for your website
> or news paper please e-mai syndication@nature.com
>
> policy: Green apples upset cart TOM CLARKE
>
> A study of apple farming published today finds that organic
> orchards can be more profitable, produce tastier fruit at similar
> yields compared to conventional farming, and be better for the
> environment at the same time1.
> John Reganold and colleagues at Washington State University in
> Pullman farmed three experimental
> plots of Golden Delicious apples (Malus x domestica) using organic,
> conventional and
> 'integrated' growing methods.
> Although the organic system took longer to reach profitability, it
> ranked first in terms of environmental
> sustainability, profitability and energy efficiency by the end of
> the six-year study. Integrated farming,
> which reduces the use of chemicals by combining organic and
> conventional production methods, came
> second, conventional farming last.
>
> What's more, untrained tasters rated the organic apples the sweetest.
>
> "This is one of the first well-replicated rigorous experiments
> that's looked at all of the benefits and costs involved in an
> alternative framing practice," says David Tilman, who works on
> sustainable development at the University of Minnesota in St Paul.
> "We kept track of everything that went in," says Reganold. By
> recording inputs of compost, chemicals and even the amount of fuel
> used by farming machinery, Reganold's team produced an
> 'environmental impact assessment' for each growing method.
> Critics say organic farming is based more on ideology than on
> environmental or economic merit2 .
> They also worry that because organic farming is often more energy
> intensive and produces lower yields than conventional methods it may
> place an even higher burden on the environment.
>
> Although Reganold's study finds that this is certainly not the case
> for growing Golden Delicious in Washington, it does not necessarily
> imply that organic farming is more environmentally and economically
> sound for other types of agriculture in other regions, he admits.
>
> Dennis Avery, director of the Center for
> Global Food Issues in Churchville, Virginia argues that this is a
> persistent problem with research hailing the benefits of organic
> systems.
>
> "The real issue of sustainability doesn't have a lot to do with
> intensive fruit and vegetable production," says Avery. He argues
> that it is the large-scale production of staple crops like wheat,
> corn, rice and wood that have the greatest impact on whether or not
> agriculture is environmentally and economically sustainable and that
> organic methods cannot produce sufficient yields in these crop
> systems to compete with conventional methods. "Organic field crops
> are 50 to 60 percent less productive per acre," says Avery.
>
> But organic farming experts argue that if there was as much research
> into 'alternative' farming
> practices as there is into conventional ones, the muddy boot could
> be on the other foot when it comes to the sustainability of organic
> farming.
>
> "The research input that goes into organic farming is so small that
> I just get irritated at people who are trying to make comparisons
> between the two systems when there isn't a level playing field,"
> says Martin Wolfe, an organic farming researcher at Wakelyns
> Agroforestry in Suffolk, UK.
>
> Alternative farming practices could lose their unscientific "muck
> and luck" image if there were more thorough studies into organic
> methods such as Reganold's, says Wolfe. "As more of a scientific
> spotlight plays on what is occurring, in most cases it will emerge
> that organic farming is coming up with the goods."
>
> 1.Reganold, J. P., Glover, J. D., Andrews, P. K., Hinman, H. R.
> Sustainability of three apple
> production systems. Nature 410, 926-930 (2001).
>
> 2.Trewavas, A. Urban myths of organic farming. Nature 410, 409-410
> (2001).
>
> 3.Drinkwater, L. E., Wagoner, P. & Sarrantonio, M. Legume-based
> cropping systems have
> reduced carbon and nitrogen losses. Nature 396, 262-265 (1998).
>
> ? Macmillan Magazines
> Ltd 2001 - NATURE NEWS SERVICE
>
>
>
>
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