Written By: Yelena Kobaliya, EarthAction Intern
The question on many consumers' minds while staring at an array of beautiful produce trucked to their local grocer from Mexico, California, Chile and other far-away locales is, exactly how much better for me are the tomatoes labelled "organic" over "conventional"? Are the health benefits worth the steep price tag?
They may be, but a major study by the Rodale Institute in Kutztown, PA concluded that the main advantage of organic produce over conventional is not in organic food's health benefits for individual consumers. The 30-year study shows that there are major ecological benefits to organic agriculture which can impact more than the individual pushing the shopping cart.
It has often been argued that organic agriculture cannot provide enough for the world. Rodale Institute’s study contradicts this point of view. Comparisons of conventional and organic plots did not show any difference in total wheat, corn or soy production per acre. Moreover, during the drought years, organic plots provided 30% more harvest than conventional plots.
In an interview with the Huffington Post, Mark Smallwood, Rodale Institute’s executive director, stated: "If we're looking to feed the world for the next 50 years, conventional can do it. But if we're looking at feeding the world for the next 1500 years, we must switch over to organic."
The usage of petroleum-product contributes to the sustainability gap between conventional and organic agriculture. Even though both methods use diesel fuel for farm equipment, some 41% of conventional systems' petroleum consumption comes from using harmful, nitrogen-based fertilizers.
Sustainable soil health is another factor which differentiates the two systems. Conventional agriculture relies on crude-oil-dependent artificial fertilizers for the soil's macronutrient content. The use of such heavy-duty pesticides has been referred to as the pesticide treadmill, a dangerous cycle which, once begun, is difficult to come out of. When dwindling oil supplies or rising fossil fuel prices begin to impact the availability and price of synthetic fertilizers, it will be the organic farms that will remain prosperous.
The summary of the Rodale Institute's findings are:
• Organic yields match or surpass conventional yields.
• Organic yields outperform conventional yields in years of drought.
• Organic farming systems build rather than deplete soil organic matter, making it a more sustainable system.
• Organic farming uses 45 percent less energy and is more efficient.
• Conventional agricultural systems produce 40 percent more greenhouse gases.
• Organic farming systems are more profitable than conventional farming systems.
Mark Smallwood shed light on the high cost of organic food explaining, "one of the reasons is that there aren't enough organic farms. It's because demand is higher than supply." To combat the discrepancy in supply and demand the Rodale Institute proposes several policy recommendations based on their study; to expand organic research funding, to ensure fair and appropriate risk management tools, to meet market demand, to create a robust organic transition assistance program, and to reward environmental benefits.
Eric Schlosser on the benefits of organic farming: http://aol.it/pc693W
Image source: Organic Farming Research Foundation
To learn more about the Rodale Institute, visit www.rodaleinstitute.org
