Can Organic Agriculture
Feed the World?

'In developing countries, the UNDP (1992) concluded that organic farming methods seem able to provide similar outputs, with less external resources, supplying a similar income per labor day as high input conventional approaches. Studies commonly show large increases where local farmers adopt organic farming systems, up to 400%, reaching levels similar to those of high-input systems'
Stockdale et al (2001), Advances in Agronomy, Volume 70

July 2001

The UN Development Programmme's (UNDP) "Human Development Report 2001" has placed highly controversial emphasis on the 'need' to deploy genetically engineered crops in order to feed the world's growing population - a conclusion in direct conflict with the analysis carried out in an earlier report by the UN's own Food and Agriculture Organisation published in 2000.

The new controversy has refocused debate on what systems of agriculture are most likely to provide sustainability in the 21st century - particularly in developing countries - with opinions often polarising between genetic engineering and organic agriculture based solutions. Compared to genetic engineering very little research effort has gone into developing organic systems of agriculture, raising the question as to how much scope there is for further development were comparable resources to be made available to it.

The extracts below are from a paper published earlier this year in the scientific journal 'Advances in Agronomy'. The paper seeks to address some of the issues that are likely to be raised in the event that global agriculture is increasingly run on organic lines.

The paper was grant-aided by the UK's Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. The authors are from eight leading agricultural research centres in the UK, some of which are also involved in genetic engineering research.

Source: NLP Wessex
nlpwessex@bigfoot.com
www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex

Advances in Agrononomy, Volume 70, 261 - 327 (2001)

AGRONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL
IMPLICATIONS OF ORGANIC
FARMING SYSTEMS

[paper extracts only]

E. A. Stockdale,¹ N. H. Lampkin,² M. Hovi,³ R. Keatinge,⁴ E. K. M. Lennartsson,⁵ D. W. Macdonald,⁶ S. Padel,²
F. H. Tattersall,⁶ M. S. Wolfe,⁷ and C. A. Watson⁸

 

INTRODUCTION

In its most developed form, organic farming is both a philosophy and a system of agriculture. The objectives of environmental, social, and economic sustainability lie at the heart of organic farming and are among the major factors determining the acceptability or otherwise of specific production practices. The term "organic" is not directly related to the type of inputs used, but refers to the concept of the farm as an organism, first proposed by Steiner (1924), in which all the component parts - the soil minerals, organic matter, micro-organisms, insects, plants, animals and humans - interact to create a coherent whole......

CROP YIELDS

.....In most of the studies reported, crop yields under organic systems are somewhat lower than for comparable conventional systems. However, the studies from Canada (Stonehouse et al., 1996), the United States (Lockeretz et al., 1984; NRC, 1989), and Australia (Wynen, 1994) report yield reductions of 10-20% in some cases and similar or higher yields in others. In Europe, arable crops yields in organic systems are 60-80% those of conventional systems (Eltun, 1996a, b; Halberg and Kristensen, 1997; Kleijn et al., 1990; Poutala et al.; 1994; Varis et al., 1996; Offerman and Nieberg, 1999) .....

In developing countries, the UNDP (1992) concluded that organic farming methods seem able to provide similar outputs, with less external resources, supplying a similar income per labor day as high input conventional approaches. Studies commonly show large increases where local farmers adopt organic farming systems, up to 400%, reaching levels similar to those of high-input systems (Anon., 1991; Huang et al., 1993) .....

IMPLICATIONS FOR FOOD PRODUCTION AND FOOD SECURITY

The limited studies that have been carried out to date to study the implications of increasing use of organic farming systems on global food production and food security suffer from serious problems with underlying assumptions, availability of data, and the limited range of factors analyzed. For example, in Europe, we know that crop yields ar commonly 20-40% lower in organic systems compared with conventional systems........Padel and Lampkin (1994) showed that in northern Europe domestic food demand could be met with organic methods, but food would be more expensive. Similar conclusions were reached in the studies in the U.S. (Olson et al., 1982). The proportion of grain legumes grown would increase substantially, and other crops such as oilseeds and sugar beet would decline by as much as 75%. But most of these assumptions reflect currrent demand patterns for organic products, which place more emphasis on horticultural crops and less emphasis on crops for processing such as oilseeds and sugar beet.....

.... It is reasonable to suppose that the production of ruminant livestock might decline by 10-30%, and that pigs and poultry production levels might be substantially lower as a consequence of reverting to land-based, extensive systems (Padel and Lampkin, 1994). In addition, an implicit assumption is often made that we actually need to maintain current patterns of crop use. Organic farming, with its emphasis on farm-produced feed for livestock, is likely to result in significant reductions in the total quantities of cereals and other crops used to feed livestock, emphasizing instead forages produced as part of maintaining soil fertility or in areas not suited to crop production. By relying more on home-produced proteins, organic farming is also likely to reduce the need for protein crops, like soya, produced in developing countries, thus releasing resources to meet domestic food needs. Consumer demand patterns may also change to favor low meat diets as awareness of the environmental, welfare and health costs of intensive livestock production systems increases.  

In addition, the assumption is often made that the yield reductions associated with organic farming in western Europe will also apply in other parts of the world. The evidence is to the contrary....... Where resource-poor farmers are unable to afford purchased inputs, the information-intensive, agro-ecosystem management approaches which characterize organic farming may be critical to achieve production increases (Pretty, 1998). However, such approaches require changes from teaching and dissemination approaches to agricultural extension to the development of methods which develop the farmers capacity to think for themselves and develop their own solutions (Pretty, 1996).  

Many authors have argued that it would be possible to feed double the current global population only if we continue to intensify production through increased use of fertilizers, energy, bio-technology and water (Avery, 1995). Yet it is increasingly clear that the pressures on some of these resources, particularly water, and the negative environmental impacts of intensive input use on soil, water and air quality, are such that further intensification is not a sustainable option. Instead, a strategy that increases total food supply over time, while doing this with lower levels of resource use and environmental pollution per unit of food produced, is a fundamental requirement — increasingly organic farming is demonstrating its capacity to do this.

CONCLUSIONS

The increasing development of organic production systems and markets illustrates that this represents a valid alternative approach, often in direct opposition to intensive "biotechnology" agriculture. Certainly organic farming systems fit well with a view of the countryside where agricultural production is tempered with conservation (Krebs et al., 1999) and where less-intensive more environmentally friendly agriculture is practiced through the whole countryside rather than the North American model, where agriculture is separated into highly intensive bread-basket regions, leaving large nature reserves/wildernesses on the less productive areas........  

........The benefits of organic farming systems are relevant both to developed nations (environmental protection, biodiversity enhancement, reduced energy use and CO₂ emissions) and to developing countries (sustainable resource use, increased crop yields without over-reliance on costly external inputs, environmental and biodiversity protection). With greater political will and investment in research, more of this potential could be realized..... 

.....The complex and interacting nature of all the biological and decision-making processes within organic farming systems requires a systems approach to scientific study, which considers processes within the context of the system. This does not rule out reductionist approaches to specific questions, but demands a more holistic approach to the framing of hypotheses and the interpretation of results.....  

......In considering the structure of, and approach to, organic agriculture, it is clear that, to be successful, the organic farmer has to be an applied ecologist with a broad range of skills and knowledge. In our view, to provide and enhance those skills and knowledge, the development of research in organic agriculture has to focus on a much closer association with many aspects of ecological research, to develop the tools necessary for understanding complex interactions at different systems levels. Such developments should help not only to further the development of organic agriculture but also inform and improve the sustainability of other forms of agriculture.

Advances in Agrononomy, Volume 70, 261 - 327 (2001)

(Source: www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/organicresearch.htm )

"Genetically Engineered Food - Safety Problems"
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Attachments:

• 1501663357-Can Organic Agriculture Feed the World-Stockdale.doc
• 1501663380-Can Organic Farming Feed the World-Vasilikiotis.doc
• 1501663389-Science and Pseudoscience AssignmentS17.docx