Organic Farming Can Feed the Whole World

The importance of agriculture is undeniable, but we see that agriculture policies are reduced to one single aim: Increasing productivity in parallel with population growth and feeding the people. This is the common discussion but does socio-economic analysis back it up?

20 March 2018

There are many methods of farming aiming to reach the mentioned objective such as pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, GMOs and all these have a history of 70 years. The struggle for obtaining maximum productiveness despite of the damage it causes to natural assets and the ecosystem is obviously not the best option: According to Food Sustainability Index in 2016, 1.8 billion people have insufficient access to food. So, it was not as alleged, industrial agriculture fell short of feeding the whole world because the cause of hunger is not insufficient food. It is unfair sharing of production, profit-oriented agriculture policies and people’s unequal purchase power.

UN’s Special Rapporteur on the right to food Prof HilalElver calls for governments to make democratic reforms to reinforce small family businesses and farmers in rural areas.

When considering global warming, climate change, deserted soil, polluted water springs, harmed living creatures and the ecosystem, conventional/industrial agriculture turns out to be less productive than organic farming in the long run.

Rodale Institute’s farming system trials prove this discovery. The Institute started farming systems trial project, America’s longest-running side-by-side comparison of organic and conventional agriculture, in 1981 and has been examining the dynamics of transition from conventional farming to organic farming ever since. By publishing a statistic covering 1986-2014, they announced that organic farming caught the productiveness of conventional farming; it even outperformed it during dry season. According to the report, during dry season, organic corn was produced 31% more than conventional corn as organic corn can endure the hard conditions. The amount of organic components in the soil increases every year in organic farming while it reduces in conventional farming.

 

There is no difference in seed yield and quality

Atatürk Garden Culture Research Institute started its studies on organic farming in 1998 and their collected data also agrees with the results of Rodale Institute. The Institute examined leek seeds growing under organic and conventional farming conditions and they found out that there were no differences. Organic farming, again, outperformed conventional farming in some certain circumstances; its germination rate was dramatically high. The result proved that a healthy, economic and qualified product is possible if healthy seedlings are chosen, an integrated struggle against pests and diseases is performed, weeds are cleared from the production field, fertilizing based on soil analysis and sustainability is done.

Both of the results showed that if production is made professionally, backed up by research and development activities, farmers are educated and governments make policies that support ecologic farming, productivity index is on organic farming’s side.

 

What would happen if the whole world transferred to organic farming?

Rodale Institute’s research is promising. What would happen if the whole world transferred to organic farming?FIBL, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture examined this issue of concern and found out what would be the result in 2050 if the only farming method performed was organic. According to the analysis cooperated by many research institutes, along with some supplementary factors, organic farming could feed the whole world. As a matter of fact, in order for the world’s population to be fed, it would be enough if the 60% of existing farm lands transferred to organic farming. According to FiBL, in order to achieve that, consuming of animal products and stock farming, thus feed manufacturing need to be reduced. FiBL foresees that more soil will be needed in order to fulfil world population’s needs. Although Prof Andreas Gattinger from Justus Liebig University indicates that there is a 25% of yield gap between conventional and organic farming, Rodale Institute’s and Atatürk Garden Culture Research Institute’s researches are promising. World population is expected to increase approximately to 10 billion. Although conventional farming is a candidate to feed the world, somehow we will need to abandon it for the sake of sustainability. Organic farming, on the other hand, promises a sustainable future. Rodale Institute draws attention to the fact that organic farming causes 50% less green gas emission than conventional farming.

As studies on productiveness continue, too much waste of food draws attention from “producing local crop” to “not wasting grown crops”. According to data given by the Ministry of Customs and Trade’s Directorate General of Domestic Trade, 25% of food products go to waste due to inappropriate or insufficient transportation or storage conditions. 1.3 billion tons of food goes to waste each year in the world. Thus, as long as the waste is prevented, yield gained from conventional agriculture is not necessary. According to Turkish Statistical Institute’s data, 1.7 billion breads, 18 million tons of fruit and vegetables go to waste each year in Turkey. Food waste costs 214 billion each year.

In 2015, there were 50.9 million hectares of organic land, which is only 1% of the world’s farm lands. FiBL indicates that a healthy production -in terms of yield and sustainability- could be attained by transferring 60% of the existing farm lands to organic farming, only if food waste and concentrate feed production were reduced in half. FiBL suggests that consumption of animal products will reduce by a third due to reduction of feed production. So, the world’s way of nourishment will also protect the climate, because industrial husbandry is responsible for %15 of green gas emission. When the effects of changes in climate such as draught or flood considered, the importance of nature and climate friendly organic farming becomes even more obvious in terms of food sustainability. If policies -which are regardful of ecologic principles, healthy nutrition, waste and consumption culture, climate change, future generations, accessibility and fair share of food, fundamentals of hunger problem- are made, it is obvious that ecologic farming can feed the world.

Sources:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-01410-w

http://rodaleinstitute.org/assets/FST-Brochure-2015.pdf

http://www.dw.com/en/feeding-the-world-with-organics-a-realistic-prospect/a-40967602

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4daLqmureU

http://orgprints.org/19175/1/Organik_P%C4%B1rasa.pdf

This text is a summary of the press bulletin of Buğday Association for Ecological Living.