Attacks on the Organic Farming and Food Industry

Organic Agriculture Fights Back
I-SIS Report

	"Organic farming has been denigrated for being less efficient in land use 

	and having lower yields than conventional farming, and even accused of 

	posing potential health risks. According to a commentary in Nature by 

	Anthony Trewavas, Fellow of the United Kingdom Royal Society, "Although 

	its supporters assert that organic agriculture is superior to other 

	farming methods, the lack of scientific studies means that this claim 

	cannot be substantiated".



	But he is wrong, there are scientific studies, peer-reviewed and published,

	documenting organic agriculture’s positive outcomes. Furthermore, certified

	organic production is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of land managed 

	organically but not certified as such. De facto organic farming is 

	prevalent in resource-poor and/or agriculturally marginal regions where 

	local populations have limited engagement with the cash economy (see 

	"Ethiopia to feed herself", this issue). Farmers rely on locally available 

	natural resources to maintain soil fertility and to combat pests and 

	diseases. They are showing the way towards sustainable agriculture through 

	sophisticated systems of crop rotation, soil management, and pest and 

	disease control, based on traditional knowledge."

	"Dennis T. Avery, author of the tract "Saving the Planet with Pesticides 

	and Plastic," proudly describes himself as a missionary. His mission: 

	to protect and promote "high-yield farming to save wildlife."



	According to Avery's doctrine, it is the greenies and "organic frenzies" 

	who threaten the world with famine and loss of habitat for their sacred 

	wildlife. Why? Because farming without synthetic pesticides, petrochemical 

	fertilizers and now biotechnology, require too much land."

Report on Organic Foods Is Challenged, New York Times, July 31, 2000