Challenging a Green Assumption – Organic is Best

By Ann Barlow, GreenPepper

Like most things of great importance, sustainability requires constant learning and – more difficult – a constant review of assumptions.  A great example of the latter is what I’ve been reading and hearing about lately regarding organic food.  Don’t get me wrong: I’m a fan of organic, locally grown, free range – it’s all good in my book.  But if we are to feed a population that continues to grow exponentially while land in developed countries continues to be redeployed to house and employ that population rather than feed it, their simply won’t be enough food to go around unless we maximize production.

Chris Goodall from the UK Guardian pointed out in a recent column on the 10 Big Energy Myths: “(The) uncomfortable reality is that we already struggle to feed six billion people. Population numbers will rise to more than nine billion by 2050. Although food production is increasing slowly, the growth rate in agricultural productivity is likely to decline below population increases within a few years…So we need to ensure that as much food as possible is produced on the limited resources of good farmland.”

 More recently, we met with some people in the food production business who challenged our own assumptions regarding pesticides, herbicides and fertilizer.  When I think of such products being sprayed on crops, I see the plane out of North by Northwest descending on the fields in northern Indiana to dust crops (and Carey Grant, of course).  At that time, you needed a lot of stuff to stave off encroachers, and we gave little if any thought to what the run-off could be doing to our water supply.  We also used some nasty stuff over the decades.  I don’t think many would advocate for the return of the likes of DDT, benefits notwithstanding.

But today’s processes require infinitesimal amounts of ingredients, and digital soil mapping can be used to determine exactly where they are – and aren’t needed.  The result is that a single gram can take care of an entire acre.  And the result is food yield of up to 50 percent greater than without the use of such things.

Like most people who think about such things, I would prefer to use whatever is natural to stave off pests and weeds that could kill our food supply.  But if there are indeed better – and essential – alternatives now available, I think we need to take a practical and unbiased view at what works best to help feed the world.