Organic farming can feed the world

Those who defend genetically modified (GM) crops claim that biotechnology is necessary to feed the world and that non-GM and organic farming alone is not capable of producing enough food for everyone. This is pro-GM propaganda.

The reality is that organic farming can feed the world, all that needs to be done is to change the methods of farming, including stopping factory farming and intensive farming which is bad for our health and for our planet. As well as this, wastage needs to be eliminated, and there needs to be a change from unhealthy diets to a healthy and varied diet (where this applies).

"Feeding the Future", a report by The Soil Association

The Soil Association has produced a report titled "Feeding the Future", which argues that organic and other agro-ecological farming systems not only solve the world's hunger problems, but actually help to bring the world's poorest out of poverty when implemented.

By contrast, GM farming actually perpetuates and even creates poverty due to making farmers dependent on agribusiness corporations for next season's batch of self-destructing seeds (so-called "terminator seeds") as well as the often proprietary toxic chemicals (pesticides, herbicides, and fertilisers) to assisting in growing these proprietary seeds.

Organic farming produces higher yields

There was a study performed by the Rodale Institute which includes 30 years of research, which shows that organic farming actually produces higher yields than conventional methods (both GM and non-GM). And of course with organic farming, there is no need to use toxic pesticides and herbicides. And composting, manure and other natural fertilising methods actually help improve the soil quality.

Other studies have modeled 9 billion people can be fed in 2050 with a healthy diet in an environmentally sustainable way. In one such study, French researchers have assumed an average food consumption of 12 500 kJ per person per day and 2 090 kJ per animal per day, which is a decrease for higher income consumers but an increase in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Waste reduction would reduce food demand by 25% in the more developed countries. People would eat more diverse and healthy diets, with a 25% decline in demand compared to the present.

There was also a similar scientific study in Germany and Austria which found that organic agriculture can probably feed the world population of 9.2 billion in 2050 provided that relatively modest diets are adopted, with a low level of inequality in food distribution required to avoid malnutrition.

In conventional farming, 40% of the world's grains go to factory farms

As much as 40% of the world's grains are fed to livestocks in factory farms, according to the Soil Association, and this could rise to 50% if current trends continue. Of course, the natural food for grazing animals is grass, not grain (and certainly not soya), is it any wonder these animals get sick when they eat grain. And of course an intense amount of resources is required to grow the grains in the first place.

If grazing animals are grass-fed on pasture grasses (which result in healthier ruminant animals), and grains used to feed humans instead, human health could be improved dramatically worldwide and hunger can be dramatically reduced (if not eliminated) as an extra 3.5 billion people could be fed. In addition to what was stated in the report, if more people became vegetarian, that would further reduce food requirements as well as greenhouse gas emissions, as less meat is required.

Reducing or eliminating waste in the food supply

There is a great amount of waste of food, as much as a third ends up in the dustbin as waste. Waste is a particularly big problem in the developed world, in Europe and North America approximately 280 kg to 350 kg is wasted, compared to about 125 kg to 165 kg in lower income countries.

Food wastage in the lower income countries are mainly caused by financial and technical limitations in harvesting, storage, infrastructure, and packaging - reducing this wastage alone would have a significant impact.

For the higher income countries, reducing the wastage, coming up with ways of conserving food, or even coming up with ways of sharing unused food with those in need, will also have a big impact in reducing world hunger.

Pages

Monday, 12 March 2012