There are many claims being bruited about that organic farming yields can never produce enough to meet the food demands of the growing global population. This is a myth.
At the turn of the century, a New Scientist editorial declared that organic farming methods, using natural fertilisers and natural means of pest control, were increasing harvests from poor farms worldwide by at least 1.7 times more than the original yields using conventional methods.
University of Essex professor Jules Pretty says there is ample evidence gathered from 20 countries that more than 4 million hectares are being farmed through organic techniques and produce enough food for at least 2 million families.
In Kenya, for example, AusAID has helped the poor Makuyu community produce organically grown maize at yields that are 1.6 times higher than maize crops grown in comparable farms with chemical nutrients. Where food production was never enough before when they were using chemical fertilisers, they can now produce a surplus which they sell and the profits ploughed back. Professor Pretty has more examples of farmers in Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and other countries experiencing yield increases when they shifted from using synthetic chemicals to organic farming techniques.
But, it may be argued, this experience comes only from impoverished communities and small farms. Does it hold true for the large-scale farms of the developed world?
In fact, it does. Wheat organically grown with manure in the UK has produced higher harvests year after year than wheat conventionally grown with chemical fertilisers, writes Professor George Monbiot in the Guardian. In a Washington State University comparative analysis of conventional, integrated and organic farming systems utilised in apple production, the researchers found that organic systems produced equivalent yields to the other systems. The big difference was in the period needed to reach break-even point on investments in the farm: organic farming system had a break-even point of nine years, while conventional farming had 15 years and integrated farming had 16 years. Organic farming also had better impact on the environment than the other systems.
In trials conducted by the Queensland Department of Primary Industries, researchers found that organically grown wheat had a yield of 3.23 tonnes per hectare while conventional wheat had only 2.22 tonnes.
In a separate study involving large farms in seven industrialised countries, Professor Pretty found that when a farm switches from conventional to organic farming, yields initially go
down by around 10-15 per cent but these soon increase and continue rising. He observed that in the United States, the top 25 per cent of organic farms produce consistently higher yields than comparable conventional farms and yet have much better environmental outcomes.
What about genetically modified (GM) crops? The performance of organic farming practices is superior even compared to GM crops. A study on GM crops in Europe by London’s Institute of Science in Society observed so much variation in crop results that the inescapable conclusion was GM crops could not really be relied upon to produce stable yields. In Argentina, which is among the top three GM-crop producers, the focus on GM crops resulted instead in soaring foreign debt partly due to dependence on imported agricultural inputs required to support the crops.
There is much evidence that organic farming practices produce higher — and more sustainable — yields than crops grown with chemical fertilisers or from GM seeds. Many experts now believe the only way to feed the increasing population is through sustainable, organic agriculture.
Author: Helen Disler
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