permaculture

["Darren Doherty" <darren@permaculture.biz>]

G'day,

Refer below:



> * Study: Organic is more productive *
>
> But MSU Extension agent disputes U-M professors' findings
>
>
>
> Sunday, July 22, 2007
>
> *   *
>
> * BY TRACY DAVIS *
>
> * Ann Arbor * * News Staff Reporter *
>
> Catherine Badgley was visiting a small local organic farm with her
> class and a colleague when she asked the farm's owner how much the
> roughly 1.5-acre field they were admiring had yielded the previous year.
>
> The answer: 27 tons of various kinds of produce.
>
> Stunned, Badgley and fellow University of Michigan professor Ivette
> Perfecto embarked on a broad three-year study of worldwide organic vs.
> conventional farm yields, plant and animal.
>
> The answer: Organic farming could, in fact, produce three times as
> much as conventional farming.
>
> The recently announced finding yanks the rug from under the long-held
> assumption that going organic is automatically less productive.
>
> Among the findings, which relied on databases of information from
> farms in developed countries and in developing nations, were that:
>
> ·   Yields were roughly the same on organic and conventional farms in
> developed countries.
>
> ·   In developing countries, food production could double or triple
> using organic methods.
>
> ·   Those yields can be attained with existing quantities of organic
> fertilizer, and without putting more farmland into production.
>
> It may seem counterintuitive that organic methods can keep pace with
> conventional farming, let alone be more productive. But Badgley, a
> research scientist in the Museum of Paleontology , said that many
> non-organic farmers in developing countries don't have access to big
> machinery, expensive synthetic fertilizer and pesticides.
>
> And even in countries where such materials are available, organic
> farming can keep pace, she said.
>
> For example, their research showed that yields of organic corn ranged
> from 84 percent of what conventionally grown corn yielded, all the way
> up to 130 percent.
>
> "It even surprised us,'' Badgley said. "We expected we might find that
> it might be oh, 80 percent or something simply because that's the
> number that has been cited in the past.''
>
> But Mike Score, Washtenaw County agricultural agent for Michigan State
> University Extension, said the finding that organic methods can
> produce equal or greater yields than conventional methods do not
> square with his experience.
>
> "I don't think that's been attained,'' Score said. "The farmers I've
> worked with have not been able to equal yields (with organic methods)
> in all cases.''
>
> That goes for developing countries as well, said Score, who worked in
> Africa for more than four years. Organically produced food could have
> the potential to generate more income due to higher prices paid for
> it, but that also would depend on factors such as labor and fuel
> costs, Score said. Organic farming often emphasizes maximizing land
> and resources and using complementary crop rotation and "green
> manure,'' which is a cover crop, such as clover, plowed into the
> ground to enhance soil nutrients.
>
> Richard Andres of Tantre Farm near Chelsea, which sells organic
> produce at the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market, notes that hand work often
> done at small organic farms can be more precise and practices such as
> narrow row spacings, environmentally friendly soil conservation
> practices and natural insect control methods can make a big difference
> in yield.
>
> The study findings are likely to resonate with a culture that
> increasingly values organically grown and produced food. Organically
> produced milk, for example, has grown so popular that there has been a
> running shortfall over the last couple of years.
>
> Perfecto, a professor in U-M's School of Natural Resources and
> Environment, said the idea that people would go hungry if farming went
> organic is ridiculous.
>
> "Corporate interest in agriculture and the way agriculture research
> has been conducted in land grant institutions, with a lot of influence
> by the chemical companies and pesticide companies, as well as
> fertilizer companies - all have been playing an important role in
> convincing the public that you need to have these inputs to produce
> food,'' she said.
>
> However, Score called that an exaggeration and said MSU does research
> on organic food production.
>
> "There's quite a bit of work being done to meet the needs of organic
> producers as well,'' he said.
>
> Tracy Davis can be reached at tdavis@annarbornews.com or 734-994-6856.
>
> News staff reporter John Mulcahy contributed to this report.
>
>
>
>  
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>


--
Jeff Schahczenski
NCAT/ATTRA
Program Specialist

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