Market Information
Can we feed 10 billion people on organic farming alone ?
In 1971 , then US Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz uttered these unsympathetic words : “ Before we go back to organic agriculture in this country , somebody must decide which 50 million Americans we are going to let starve or go hungry .” Since then , critics have continued to argue that organic agriculture is inefficient , requiring more land than conventional agriculture to yield the same amount of food . Proponents have countered that increasing research could reduce the yield gap , and organic agriculture generates environmental , health and socioeconomic benefits that can ' t be found with conventional farming . Organic agriculture occupies only 1 % of global agricultural land , making it a relatively untapped resource for one of the greatest challenges facing humanity : producing enough food for a population that could reach 10 billion by 2050 , without the extensive deforestation and harm to the wider environment . In addition , organic farming delivers equally or more nutritious foods that contain less or no pesticide residues , and provide greater social benefits than their conventional counterparts .
W i t h o r g a n i c a g r i c u l t u r e , environmental costs tend to be lower
and the benefits greater . Biodiversity loss , environmental degradation and severe impacts on ecosystem services – which refer to nature ' s support of wildlife habitat , crop pollination , soil health and other benefits – have not only accompanied conventional farming systems , but have often extended well beyond the boundaries of their fields , such as fertilizer runoff into rivers . Overall , organic farms tend to have better soil quality and reduce soil e r o s i o n c o m p a r e d t o t h e i r conventional counterparts . Organic agriculture generally creates less soil and water pollution and lower greenhouse gas emissions , and is more energy efficient . Organic agriculture is also associated with greater biodiversity of plants , animals , insects and microbes as well as genetic diversity . Despite l o w e r y i e l d s , o r g a n i c agriculture is more profitable ( by 22 – 35 %) for farmers because consumers are willing to pay more . These higher prices essentially compensate farmers for preserving the quality of their land . Organic farming can help to both feed the world and preserve wildland . In a study published this year , researchers modeled 500 food production scenarios to see if we can feed an estimated world population of 9.6 billion people in 2050 without expanding the area of farmland we already use . They found that enough food could be produced with lower-yielding organic farming , if people become vegetarians or eat a more plant-based diet with lower meat consumption . The existing farmland can feed that many people if they are all vegan , a 94 % success rate if they are vegetarian , 39 % with a completely organic diet , and 15 % with the Western-style diet based on meat . Realistically , we can ' t expect everyone to forgo meat . Organic isn ' t the only sustainable option to conventional farming either . Other viable types of farming exist , such as integrated farming where you blend organic with conventional practices or grass-fed livestock systems . Scaling up organic agriculture with appropriate public policies and private investment is an important step for global food and ecosystem security . The challenge facing policymakers is to develop government policies that s u p p o r t c o n v e n t i o n a l f a r m e r s converting to organic systems . For the private business sector , investing in organics offers a lot of entrepreneurial opportunities and is an area of budding growth that will likely continue for years to come . In a time of increasing population g r o w t h , c l i m a t e c h a n g e a n d environmental degradation , we need agricultural systems that come with a m o r e b a l a n c e d p o r t f o l i o o f sustainability benefits . Organic farming is one of the healthiest and strongest sectors in agriculture today and will continue to grow and play a larger part in feeding the world . It produces adequate yields and better unites human health , environment and s o c i o e c o n o m i c o b j e c t i ves t h a n conventional farming .
July - August 2016
FARMERS
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