Organic Food is Better for the World

Organic Food is Better for the World
Dec 8, 2013 | Project Censored

Researchers at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand found that the Genetically Modified (GM) strategy used in North America crop production is limiting production and increasing pesticide use, compared with farming in countries that do not use these strategies.  This study found that European farmers are using less herbicides and insecticides and producing just as much food as they were before.

Europeans have figured out how to produce more food in an area with less harmful chemicals. Europe’s combination of seed and crop management is also more resilient to weather change. In effect, Europe has learned to grow more food per hectare and use fewer chemicals in the process. The US choices in biotechnology are causing it to fall behind Europe in productivity and sustainability. The decrease in annual variation in yield in the US suggests that Europe has a superior combination of seed and crop management technology and is better suited to withstand weather variations. This is important because annual variations cause price speculations that can drive hundreds of millions of people into food poverty.

The controlling of seeds in the United States through patents also prevents seed saving and restricts what farmers can use. Diversification in seed and product will be strategic in the changes in production and growth. In the US, 95% of the cabbage, 91% of the field maize, 94% of the pea and 81% of the tomato varieties cultivated in the last century have been lost. GMOs and the control of seeds through patents have restricted farmer choice and prevented seed saving.

Evidence is mounting that GM industrial food system is not only failing to feed the world, but also responsible for some of the planet’s most pressing social and environmental crises. Industrial food system is directly responsible for around half of all global greenhouse gas emissions. 70-80% of the world’s food land is being used by corporate food chains that produce only 30-40% of the food that we eat.

Sources:

Colin Todhunter “The Future is Local, the Future is Organic”, Global Research, September 26, 2013. http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-future-is-local-the-future-is-organic/5351677

“Patenting the Food Supply and the Monopolization of the Biosphere”, James Corbett, Global Research, October 24, 2013. http://www.globalresearch.ca/patenting-the-food-supply-and-the-monopolization-of-the-biosphere/5355452?print=1s

“Philippines: Organic farming is cost-effective”, Paul Icamina, Global Research, April 16, 2011. http://www.globalresearch.ca/philippines-organic-farming-is-cost-effective

Student Researcher: Amanda Baxter (Sonoma State University)

Faculty Evaluator: Elaine Wellin (Sonoma State University)