Despite evidence showing that organic food is basically a consumer
fraud, what explains its increasing popularity? From a farmer's perspective, he
or she can sell the same crop for a higher price. And from the consumer's
perspective, the most likely explanation is the placebo effect. Rich people
feel good when they eat organic placebos. Organic food, in other words, is a
luxury. And it's a luxury poor people in the developing world simply cannot
afford.
Organic farms are not as productive as conventional ones. In
fact, the overall average is that organic farming produces 20% fewer crops. Organic
crops were produced at substantially lower yields than their conventional
counterparts. Organic farms produced roughly 1/3 less wheat and soybean, both
important staple crops. Potato production on organic farms was a whopping 62%
lower.
An inefficient food production system that cannot feed
everybody is, by definition, not sustainable. The authors also underscore this
point by noting that "if all US wheat production were grown organically,
an additional 12.4 million hectares (30.6 million acres) would be needed to
match 2014 production levels." That's hardly environmentally friendly.
Extrapolate those numbers out to the rest of the globe, and one can easily see
how organic farming is unsuitable.
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