Answer: Yes and More!
With the global population set to hit 9.1 billion by 2050, it’s true that in the future we’ll need to grow more food than ever. But there’s a common misconception that organic isn’t up to the task.
A look at the numbers
Recent research says we need to increase food production by anywhere from 20% to 70% in order to meet demand in coming years. Yes, we need to produce more food. But more importantly, we need to mitigate farming’s harmful effects on the environment – fast.
Agriculture accounts directly for 11-13% of greenhouse emissions and indirectly for another 12%. With our climate increasingly unsteady, we can’t afford to continue with current methods that erode soil and pollute the environment. That’s why the myth that organic food can’t feed the world isn’t just wrong, it’s downright counterproductive.
If we’re going to decrease farming’s impact – and we must decrease farming’s impact – then we need organic. Because farming doesn’t only contribute to climate change; it’s greatly affected by it. And it is getting harder and harder to grow food in extreme weather.
The problem with yields
Conventional and organic methods are often compared based on how much crop they yield per acre, leading to farm consolidation in addition to environmental degradation from soil erosion, air pollution, and water contamination.
We hear that in order to feed the world, the only solution is bigger farms with fewer farmers that achieve higher yields with new technologies like chemical fertilisers, pesticides, and GMOs – the conventional American way.
Is a marginal increase in yields achieved by further burdening ecosystems really worth it when other solutions exist? Organic farmers protect the environment and prioritise soil health, clean and air water, and nutrient-dense foods. Their emphasis is typically less on maximising crop yields and more on creating healthy, resilient ecosystems.
However, it’s untrue that the difference in yields between organic and conventional is drastic, or that organic doesn’t ever yield as much as conventional. In fact, organic outperforms conventional in adverse weather conditions like drought by as much as 40%.
Challenges to current research
Studies claiming that organic yields are less than conventional are generally short-term, meaning they collect data over just a couple years. There is a serious dearth of long-term research on the differences between organic and conventional farming.
Organic systems, when transitioning from conventional, need time to rebuild soil health to operate at maximum capacity. Rodale Institute’s Farming Systems Trial, started in 1981, is the longest-running side-by-side trial of organic and conventional in North America.
Rodale’s Farming Systems Trial data shows:
- Organic yields are competitive with conventional yields after a 5-year transition period
- Organic systems produce yields up to 40% higher in drought
- Organic methods leach no toxic chemicals into waterways
- Organic uses 45% less energy
- Organic releases 40% fewer greenhouse emissions
- Organic earns 3-6x higher profits for farmers.
The next frontier: Nutrient-density
70% of the crops grown in America are cereal grains, primarily corn and soybeans. The majority of that harvest doesn’t go to human food. Boosting yields of these crops isn’t going to feed the world. To truly feed the world, we’re going to need more foods that provide complete nutrition and more farmers to grow it.
Currently, our food system overproduces grains, fats, and sugars and underproduces the vitamins, minerals, and proteins vital for human health. The nutrition in some fruit and vegetable crops has been declining for decades as we’ve bred for yields over flavour and health. The answer to these problems isn’t maximum yields of corn and soy – it’s more nutritious food grown in a healthier way.
Untapped potential
40% of the world’s current crop production comes from small farmers in the developing world, and they are poised to make a big difference.
Given tools like viable seed and better crop varieties, these farmers can dramatically increase their productivity. Pair those tools with basic infrastructure and weather information to help time planting and harvest and these small farmers could triple their yields while regenerating resources.
Waste not
More than 800 million people are hungry today despite the fact that we grow enough to provide for the current population. One-third of the food we produce globally gets lost or wasted. If we’re worried about feeding the world, we should spend time making sure the food we do have is used completely and responsibly.
What that means for you
Our growing population needs farming methods that conserve and regenerate resources while generating healthy food – not methods that use more chemicals, polluting the environment in order to grow more corn to feed more feedlot animals.
So coming back to the question, can organic feed the world?
Yes it can, while also improving human health and the environment. Organic methods can compete with conventional yields and have huge potential to expand global food production while actively regenerating resources and protecting the environment from pollution and toxic waste. For a healthy future, we can’t afford anything less.
Source: http://www.rodaleinstitute.org
