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Organic Farming for the World?

Among the debates over the movement toward organic and sustainable farming, the most contentious refers to the movement’s scalability – could it work for the whole world? Is it possible for organic methods to produce enough food in developing countries, where pesticides and chemical fertilizers have typically been the chief weapon against scarcity and hunger? The New York Times’ Freakonomics Blog suggests a bit flippantly that this is an unlikely scenario and that a push for organic tactics would only aggravate current hunger epidemics. Yet others, like the noted chef Dan Barber, have argued that the per-acre caloric yield of organic farms far surpasses that of industrial farms, and that organic farming inherently encourages a more diverse diet. You can read an interview with Barber here, where he also asserts that improvement in the quality of food supply is perhaps a greater priority than increased quantity.

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[...] Art in the Age » Blog Archive » Organic Farming for the World? http://www.artintheage.com/blog/organic-farming-for-the-world – view page – cached Among the debates over the movement toward organic and sustainable farming, the most contentious refers to the movement’s scalability – could it work for the whole world? Is it possible for organic methods to produce enough food in developing countries, where pesticides and chemical fertilizers have typically been the chief weapon against scarcity and hunger? The New York Times’… Read moreAmong the debates over the movement toward organic and sustainable farming, the most contentious refers to the movement’s scalability – could it work for the whole world? Is it possible for organic methods to produce enough food in developing countries, where pesticides and chemical fertilizers have typically been the chief weapon against scarcity and hunger? The New York Times’ Freakonomics Blog suggests a bit flippantly that this is an unlikely scenario and that a push for organic tactics would only aggravate current hunger epidemics. Yet others, like the noted chef Dan Barber, have argued that the per-acre caloric yield of organic farms far surpasses that of industrial farms, and that organic farming inherently encourages a more diverse diet. You can read an interview with Barber here, where he also asserts that improvement in the quality of food supply is perhaps a greater priority than increased quantity. View page Tweets about this link Topsy.Data.Twitter.User['artintheage'] = {“photo”:”http://a1.twimg.com/profile_images/81825328/l6836637082_3279_normal.jpg”,”url”:”http://twitter.com/artintheage”,”nick”:”artintheage”}; artintheage: “NEW BLOG POST: Organic Farming for the World? http://bit.ly/a5yBrs ” 23 minutes ago view tweet retweet Topsy.Data.Twitter.User['miss_ivey'] = {“photo”:”http://a3.twimg.com/profile_images/685127187/yo_ivey_2_normal.JPG”,”url”:”http://twitter.com/miss_ivey”,”nick”:”miss_ivey”}; miss_ivey: “Art in the Age » Blog Archive » Organic Farming for the World?: Among the debates over the movement toward organic… http://bit.ly/9UBwbC ” 24 minutes ago view tweet retweet Filter tweets [...]