Organic Farming or Organic Chemistry?

Kip Cullers of Purdy, Missouri (pictured) harvests a world record soybean yield of 154 bushels per acre in 2007 with Pioneer® brand variety 94M80(RR), which tops the world record yield he set in 2006 of 139 bushels per acre in the Missouri Soybean Association Yield Contest Photo: Pioneer Hi-Bred

Organic farming is bad for poor people and bad for the environment.

A recent conference paper from two respected academics at Nottingham University, Dr Debbie Sparkes and Professor Paul Wilson, looked at the carbon footprint of weed control. The results of the investigation are startling. First, the yield per hectare of winter wheat produced by organic methods was only 54% that of wheat produced by conventional methods. Second, the amount of CO2 per tonne of wheat produced in organic wheat was over three times that produced by conventional methods. A similar result was found with conventional and organically farmed potatoes.

Recently, Dr Jacques Diouf, the director-general of the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) the organisation that leads international efforts to defeat hunger, reiterated that the potential for organic farming is "far from large enough to feed the world." He was being diplomatic.

Because of the premium prices that are charged for organic food, farmers in poor countries are moving increasingly into the organic-farming sector. Organic crop yields, by their very nature, are lower. The more land that's being used for organic farming the less there is for producing conventional food. Thus organic food decreases yields and drives up food prices for local consumer in poor countries. It makes food scarcer and hungry people hungrier.

Organic food is for the privileged who can afford the extra costs that is a consequence of lower yields. It is a great marketing ploy to make rich westerners feel better about themselves. It is "ethical consumerism" without the ethics.

Organic food, by at least one measure, is worse for the environment and is no better for the consumer than food produced by conventional means. If you want to help the environment, choose good quality food that is produced locally.

Conventional pesticides, made by organic chemists, undergo rigorous safety and environmental tests, which are reviewed regularly. They are among the safest and most regulated products in the world. For more information about crop protection, go to www.agrow.com.

Frankly, I'd choose organic chemistry over organic farming any day.