Bill I thought the article Dave posted explained a pretty well documented and unbiased approach to understanding what a very comprehensive set of data said about American organic agriculture's ability to compete in terms of yield with their conventional counterparts. It may be strech to extrapolate it to a global lesson, but since American agriculture is such a major component of global agriculture, I think its a fair warning. I was happy to see it posted, not because I favor conventional ag. I just want folks to do fair and honest work when they make comparisons. That seems pretty rare these days.
Bill ---- Original message ---- >Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2011 15:56:50 -0500 >From: Bill Sciarappa <[email protected]> >Subject: Re: [apple-crop] Can Organic Agriculture Feed the World? >To: "'Dave Schmitt'" <[email protected]>, "'Apple-crop discussion >list'" <[email protected]>, [email protected], >[email protected] > > Thanks for the article Dave. > > The main fallacy in it's undocumented and biased > assertion (same as Rodale's political advocacy > approach) is extrapolating apples to oranges. > Comparing US certified production to anything gives > a false impression. Our American organic effort lags > far behind Australia, China, South America and most > parts of Europe. Some certification in these > countries is more stringent than US and some is not > certified at all yet better in quality than US. > Incorporating global organic uncertified would paint > a very different and more equitable picture. > > > > Regardless, if unlimited human population growth > occurs, there will be even more food scarcity and > food riots but largely because of a distribution > chain problem in less accessible places and human > populations that cannot economically afford to pay. > The average cost of 20 years of organic food > production in Italy remains less than conventional > fruits and vegetables with 55,000 certified growers > who feed all the school systems. That's existing > real world evidence that is gaining in European ag > every year. USA policy and economic development > funding has done all it can to retard such > sustainable growth. > > > > Bill Sciarappa > > > > From: Dave Schmitt > [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Friday, March 11, 2011 2:54 PM > To: Apple-crop discussion list; > [email protected]; > [email protected] > Subject: Can Organic Agriculture Feed the World? > > > > Interesting piece in Slate: > > http://www.slate.com/id/2287746/ > > -- >________________ >_______________________________________________ >apple-crop mailing list >[email protected] >http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop William H Shoemaker, UI-Crop Sciences Sr Research Specialist, Food Crops St Charles Horticulture Research Center 535 Randall Road St Charles, IL 60174 630-584-7254; FAX-584-4610 _______________________________________________ apple-crop mailing list [email protected] http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop
