Iida Ruishalme’s 500 words – Natural assumptions
Iida writes of her attempt to defend organic, of the risks of repeating slogans, and of how pieces of worldview are built and change, sometimes as easily as with a comment or two.
Iida is a Finn by birth and has a Masters degree in Biology from Sweden. She dabbled shortly in postgraduate research in insulin cell signalling before moving to Switzerland, where she has worked in the pharmaceutical industry. While her two lovely daughters and a passion for fiction-writing have come in between her more scientific endeavours, she has not lost interest. In the meantime, her experiences of a lack of good science understanding by the public has sparked her interest in science communication.
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“Yes, Monsanto is pure evil,” I said. This was about a year ago, in 2013, and I was defending science and nuanced thinking in the same sentence, no less. “Monsanto is pure evil,” I said, “but genetic engineering is just a tool and in itself is neither good or bad.” My University course literature had given a balanced view of many possible benefits to GM while highlighting a couple of areas of caution. My main insight on Monsanto came from the movie Food Inc., confirmed by plenty of common internet knowledge and a couple of trusted friends of mine.
I had always considered myself a rational and science-minded person so I was upset when I first heard people object to GMOs for reasons such as not wanting genes in their food (in the late nineties, when the topic was still very new and knowledge scarce) or just because ‘it wasn’t natural’, which I saw as a fear of the unknown.
Later on I was incredibly frustrated to find that a lot of people opposed standard vaccinations going counter to scientific evidence. So when I stumbled on a Facebook page called “We love vaccines and GMOs”, though I didn’t exactly think of my view on genetic engineering as ‘love’, I was happy to find a place to share my frustration. But as I started following their posts I was confronted with something that gave me pause. There were several that criticised organic farming.
I had been a loyal organic consumer for a decade. My vegan friends had talked a lot about how detrimental industrial agriculture was for the environment, and even my favourite ecology teacher back in the University mentioned how important it was to buy organic milk and meat. Living on student subsidies and saving on about everything else, I was convinced that buying ecological produce (In Finland the label actually goes under the name ‘Eco’, and the Swedish label, translated roughly to ‘Demand’, also states the food is ecologically produced. In Switzerland it’s called ‘Bio’ for biologically farmed.) was vital for the environment. Paying twice the price was more than worth it.
I couldn’t just leave the criticism unaddressed. Somebody needed to present a nuanced voice of organic farming, so that people would not group it together with anti-science sentiments. So I started digging. I read about comprehensive meta-analyses of studies where they found that organic food was no more nutritious than conventional produce1,2. Interesting, but hardly devastating. That wasn’t my reason for choosing organic. I read about how organic was an industry like any other, looking for profit, with all the dirt that entails3,4 – well sure. It couldn’t exactly be a charity, could it? Not every company was perfectly principled. It didn’t mean that the whole organic label was bad. Then I read a Swiss animal welfare organisation statement that organic did not necessarily reflect in greater well-being for the animals, that it was more narrowly focused on the farming of crops5. As a great animal lover I thought, okay, that’s a pity, for animal products I would have to look for different labels. But I would continue to support organic for the most important point, for the sake of the environment.
I continued. There were studies about organic pesticides being no more benign than conventional6. Well that was surprising, but made sense, they would all have to be some kind of chemicals that kill plants and insects. I further read about how the risks from pesticides for the consumer were actually very small7,8,9, and that people feared them much out of proportion! What a relief. Why did so many seem to think the opposite?
Further, there was a study that said organic farming actually contributed more to pollution of groundwater10, and then an analysis of more than a hundred studies saying organic had more ammonia and nitrogen run-off per product unit, leading to more eutrophication as well as acidification potential11. Ouch. That was not what I would have thought. But considering the imprecise mode of fertilisation (spreading out manure), that too did make sense. Most importantly, also confirmed by several sources, I found out that the big issue with organic farming was the yield – forgoing the more efficient synthetic methods meant having one third (or between a half and one fifth) less of end product2,11,12,13. Which in turn meant that scaling up organic farming, we would need to find a third more land to make up for its inefficiency.
When I looked at these studies one by one, my immediate reaction was: surely now that these results were available, where necessary, organic farming practices could be adapted so that they would continue to provide consumers with the best environmentally friendly sources of food. But that relied on an assumption I held that I had so far not even thought of checking.
I thought organic farming was based on evidence, but it wasn’t. It wasn’t designed by studying what would be best for the environment. On the contrary, to my surprise I found it’s roots were actually in biodynamic agriculture – a method that emphasizes spiritual and mystical perspectives on farming14. What? How could I have missed such a point for a decade? The picture I was beginning to piece together was that being ‘organic’ was based on the idea that modern farming – industrial agriculture – was bad, and the old ways of farming were better. That whatever natural was, that was better.
So anything created specifically in a lab, with intention, aim, and knowledge – anything synthetic – had to be bad15. Genetic engineering (which I had thought would go hand-in-hand with many of the ecological intentions of organic farming) had to be especially bad. And companies working on modern agricultural approaches were simply the worst16.
While I was in the midst of what I call my organic crisis, I saw another post that was at odds with my world view. But this one was over the top. A YouTube video called “I love Monsanto”17. I clicked on the link in disbelief as I had never seen those three words in the same sentence before. Obviously it was an attention-seeking stunt, and it worked. The man in the video, Dusty, went through one Monsanto-claim after another, and punched them full of holes. And quite easily too. He urged his watchers not to take his word but to read up on the claims themselves. I did. Alleged lawsuits, abusing and controlling farmers, bad treatment of employees, Indian farmer suicides, terminator seeds, terrible farming practices, toxic pesticides, devastating health impacts and on and on18,19,20,21,22. I came up empty. There was nothing terrible left that I could accuse Monsanto of. I even skimmed back and forth in the movie Food Inc., and looked for supporting sources online, but instead of finding ammunition, I found more holes23,24. With a few emotional testimonies and dramatised footage the movie painted a worldview which made all its following insinuations plausible. I couldn’t believe I had not seen the gaps in its presentation on the first viewing. Why didn’t they interview any science experts or organisations? What about the FDA? Union representatives? Farming organisations? Lawyers? Immigration officials? Where was the actual evidence?
I was embarrassed and angry over how easily I had been fooled. Not only had I parroted silly slogans such as ‘Monsanto is evil’, but I had long and determinedly supported a branch of agriculture that I thought was making the world better. It dawned on me that the only improvements in fact being made were the ones in the minds of myself and the other organic supporters – thinking better of ourselves for making such ethical choices. I had shunned others for using the ‘natural’ argument, but with my wallet I had supported the idea that ‘natural’ methods were best in a mysterious way that was above and beyond evidence.
I began to question if there even was a ‘natural way to farm’? If natural was defined by, say, the exclusion of human activities, then surely there was nothing natural to farming. On the other hand, if we accepted humans as a part of nature, and our continued innovations as part of our nature, then all farming was natural. Saying that more traditional farming practices would be inherently better than those using more advanced technology wasn’t a concept that could be settled by a romantical appeal to nature. Only careful definitions of ‘better’, followed by observations, testing, and evaluation of evidence could tell us something about that.
Another thing which may or may not be considered natural, is how incredibly many humans there are on this planet today. My reading has made me accept that innovations like synthetic pesticides, fertilisers, and enhanced crops are important in the quest of keeping everybody fed. I have even begun to accept that Monsanto – gasp – could play a part in making the world better. As I see it, the best kind of agriculture going forward should be a scientifically oriented one. It should be free to combine the best methods whether they be derived from old traditions or created in the lab, using what makes most sense, in order to arrive at efficient and environmentally friendly ways of farming. And what has made me happy indeed, is realising that this is already being done2,12,25,26,27.
Organic labels on the other hand are not adapting. Actually, it appears they are spending considerable sums of money to mislead the public about science3,28,29. That is not something I can approve of. And I am not ready to give up one third more land to support the appealing idea of ‘being natural’. That is land which isn’t there. Land which comprises the last dwindling habitats for wild-life – the actual nature.
I am still searching for that label that would say ‘buying this will make the world a better place’. And if I do find one, I will do a proper background-check to see if I can verify its claims. I’ve realised that I am in no way immune to basing my views on unchecked assumptions, and I shouldn’t judge others for making the same mistake. Having to change a deep-seated world view can be exhausting and painful. I am thankful for this experience and see it as a reminder to stay respectful of others, no matter what beliefs they may hold. We can help each other in remaining open for opportunities to learn.
References
1 News in Standford medicine – Little evidence of health benefits from organic foods
“The most comprehensive meta-analysis to date of existing studies comparing organic and conventional foods.”
Above discussed paper (behind paywall)
2 Scientific American: Mythbusting 101 organic farming vs conventional agriculture
“science simply cannot find any evidence that organic foods are in any way healthier than non-organic ones – and scientists have been comparing the two for over 50 years.”
“As far as I’m concerned, the biggest myth when it comes to organic farming is that you have to choose sides. Guess what? You don’t. You can appreciate the upsides of rotating crops and how GMOs might improve output and nutrition.”
3 Article criticising the marketing practices of organic industries.
“The organic and natural products special interests are spending more than $2.5 billion a year in no-holds-barred advocacy, and hundreds of millions more in unreported marketing activities to disparage farming methods and promulgate fraudulent health claims about the foods we eat – to no other purpose than to increase sales of their own exorbitantly priced offerings.”
4 Pollan’s criticism of the organic industry in the book Omnivore’s dilemma summarised in Wikipedia
“For Pollan, the marketing geniuses at Whole Foods peddle an irresistible commodity: self-satisfaction. He quotes a marketing consultant waxing creepily about how the store offers consumers the opportunity to “engage in authentic experiences” and “return to a utopian past with positive aspects of modernity intact.
Yet the virtues on sale often prove spectral, Pollan shows. The “free-range” chicken on offer, it turns out, hails from a confinement operation with a tiny yard, largely unused by the short-lived birds. And after giving gigantic organic vegetable outfits a long and sympathetic hearing, he subjects them to a devastating energy analysis. Pollan finds that while a one-pound box of California-produced organic lettuce contains 80 food calories, it requires 4,600 calories of fossil fuel to process and ship to the East Coast. He adds that the figure would be only “about 4 percent higher if the salad were grown conventionally.” It’s hard to dispute Pollan’s assessment of large-scale organic agriculture: it’s “floating on a sinking sea of petroleum.””
“These data bring into caution the widely held assumption that organic pesticides are more environmentally benign than synthetic ones. All pesticides must be evaluated using an empirically-based risk assessment, because generalizations based on chemical origin do not hold true in all cases.”
7 Berkeley grad students commentary on the Ames study of (organic) pesticide carcinogenicity
“Until recently, nobody bothered to look at natural chemicals (such as organic pesticides), because it was assumed that they posed little risk. But when the studies were done, the results were somewhat shocking: you find that about half of the natural chemicals studied are carcinogenic as well.
This is a case where everyone (consumers, farmers, researchers) made the same, dangerous mistake. We assumed that “natural” chemicals were automatically better and safer than synthetic materials, and we were wrong. It’s important that we be more prudent in our acceptance of “natural” as being innocuous and harmless.”
8 Synthetic vs Natural pesticides
“They found that about half of natural chemicals tested positive for carcinogencity, the same proportion as the synthetic chemicals. Fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices contained their own pesticides that caused cancer in rodents. The toxins were found in apples, bananas, beets, Brussel sprouts, collard greens, grapes, melons, oranges, parsley, peaches — the list went on and on.
We have estimated that on average Americans ingest roughly 5,000 to 10,000 different natural pesticides and their breakdown products. Americans eat about 1,500 mg of natural pesticides per person per day, which is about 10,000 times more than the 0.09 mg they consume of synthetic pesticide residues.
“Everything you eat in the supermarket is absolutely chock full of carcinogens,” Dr. Ames told me. “But most cancers are not due to parts per billion of pesticides. They’re due to causes like smoking, bad diets and, obesity.”
The paper discussed in the above piece
9 Study on pesticide levels in food
“The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) announced that once again, the majority of produce it tested annually had little or no detectable pesticide residues and posed no health risk to the public. 95 percent of all California-grown produce, sampled by DPR in 2013, was in compliance with the allowable limits.”
10 Organic pollutes ground water more than conventional
Above discussed paper (PDF)
11 A 2012 analysis of more than 100 studies of farming methods across Europe
“Getting the same unit production from organic farming tended to lead to “higher ammonia emissions, nitrogen leaching and nitrous oxide emissions.” And while organic farming tends to use less energy, it also leads to “higher land use, eutrophication potential” – that’s the dead zones mentioned above – “and acidification potential per product unit.”
The meta-review (discussed above).
12 Nature news article on yields in organic farming
“Crop yields from organic farming are as much as 34% lower than those from comparable conventional farming practices, the analysis finds. Organic agriculture performs particularly poorly for vegetables and some cereal crops such as wheat, which make up the lion’s share of the food consumed around the world.
Cereals and vegetables need lots of nitrogen to grow, suggesting that the yield differences are in large part attributable to nitrogen deficiencies in organic systems, says Seufert.”
13 Article on the unsustainability of organic farming
“In recent decades, conventional agriculture has become more environmentally friendly and sustainable than ever before. But that reflects science-based research and old-fashioned technological ingenuity on the part of farmers, plant breeders, and agribusiness companies, not irrational opposition to modern insecticides, herbicides, genetic engineering, and “industrial agriculture.”
14 Searching for the roots of organic agriculture
15 Wikipedia on organic farming
“Depending on whose definition is used, organic farming uses fertilizers and pesticides (which include herbicides, insecticides and fungicides) if they are considered natural (such as bone meal from animals or pyrethrin from flowers), but it excludes or strictly limits the use of various methods (including synthetic petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides; plant growth regulators such as hormones; antibiotic use in livestock; genetically modified organisms; human sewage sludge; and nanomaterials.)”
17 Cult of Dusty “I love Monsanto”
18 Discussion (with more linked sources) on myths about Monsanto
19 Study about the farmer suicides in India
20 Article on myths such as sterile seeds, suing farmers and more
21 About corporate funded studies – can we trust the research?
22 View from an Iowa farm: In choosing seeds, ‘I’m no pawn of Monsanto’
23 Addressing questions about the views portrayed in the film Food Inc
24 Monsanto’s response to Food Inc
26 The Promise of GMOs: Conservation Tillage and What is No-Till?
27 Why we will need genetically modified foods
28 Realclearscience – article criticising claims by Whole foods
“Whole Foods — the most (in)famous face of the organic industry — maintains on its website a list created by the Organic Trade Association called the “Top 10 Reasons To Go Organic” Many of the statements are misleading or completely false.”
29 A column on the marketing tactics of organic farming
“Tens of millions of organic marketing dollars flow annually to activist organizations such as the Environmental Working Group which spread misinformation and fear. Unsupported, provably counterfactual claims are so habitual to the industry that they are even included in official statements: “Not only is organic safer, healthier and more nutritious,” claims the Organic Consumer Association in testimony to USDA, but buying organic will “reduce food-borne illness and diet-related diseases.
The Organic Seal does not and cannot signify any health or safety criteria whatsoever. It merely certifies that products were produced using less modern inputs.
“Let me be clear about one thing,” said USDA Secretary Dan Glickman when organic certification was being considered. “The organic label is a marketing tool. It is not a statement about food safety. Nor is ‘organic’ a value judgment about nutrition or quality.”
Yet USDA’s own research shows consumers buy higher priced organic products because they mistakenly believe them safer and more nutritious.
The science is clear on this point: As numerous studies, USDA monitoring, and a massive “meta-analysis” recently conducted at Stanford University confirm, organic foods are no more nutritious, nor do they carry any fewer health risks, than conventional foods. In fact, a good case could be made that conventional food may be considerably safer.”
Photo Credit: Iida Ruishalme
Nice to meet you…. my name is Janice and I work at Monsanto…. like you, I want to support products and companies that help make the world a better place. I think what we are doing makes a positive contribution and keep trying to get to more people one on one. I truly appreciate your sharing your story.
Nice to meet you too! I am sorry I was a part of the silent crowd, taking the word of a few loudmouths and just nodding along on what now seems to me like science fiction on the evils of Monsanto. I am hoping that many others of that crowd, too, will adjust their views if they just come across better sources of information. I’ve actually heard lot of good things about Monsanto lately – great employer, and innovative research. Who knew 😉
Nice going! Sounds like my journey…
http://randomrationality.com/2013/05/17/why-im-through-with-organic-farming/
Mike, I have read your journey, in fact I have it saved in my resource collection document too! Much appreciated reading it, thanks for sharing, and reading mine. 🙂
I saw your original post to the SkeptiForum page and thought it was good, I enjoyed the read even more the second time. Very well done.
Very nicely done. Good read, and a good list of references.
I’m sorry, but if this were an anti-GMO article, many of you would have piled on it for cherry-picked data and poor assumptions. I apologize for not having the time to detail and reference all the problematic elements right now. I had hoped my original comments would have prompted the author to dig deeper, but evidently they did not.
Robb, The post I am replying to is the only one I see from you. I am curious to see what else you had to say. Lida’s story is somewhat similar to mine. Main differences is she is more civil and a better writer. The reason I asked about your other post is that I want to see what I may be overlooking when I read something I agree with. Rather than another anti g.e. comment, complete with mandatory shill accusation.
Eric, to clarify: Robb made a comment on the GMO SF thread where I asked for feedback while working on this piece.
Rob told me: “With respect, I see you making broad generalizations about organic agriculture based on a few selected pieces of information. The danger in that is allowing the pendulum to swing too far and continuing to believe in a false dichotomy. I’ve written several blog posts on this theme over atwww.thefanningmill.com”
This was my response to him then:
“Rob Wallbridge, I am really happy to have your input. I think I should emphasise more that there good methods in organic as well as conventional agriculture. I think though that for this piece and my discovery, the gist is this – and maybe it is something that you could help me with – firstly, from what I can uncover, leading principles of organic are not on themselves based on evidence, rather on ideas, and the wish that those ideas reflect in better results for the environment and their produce. Secondly, and the more troubling part: that the organic labels (or the movement) are not looking to correct themselves and change according to evidence. I wonder if you have some sources that would show otherwise?
I much applaud the farmers who see beyond the dichotomy and instead rationally look for best solutions suited for their situation, looking for ecological and efficient all-around methods. I hope to convey that too in my words in the end about the future agriculture.”
I got no more response from Rob at the time, but supportive feedback from others. The Facebook thread can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/GMOSF/permalink/465875706885018/
I also read a few of the posts on Rob’s blog that seemed most relevant but couldn’t find what I was hoping for. It could be I just didn’t know which posts to look for.
Thank you Iida for clarifying things for Eric. I apologize to both of you, and Iida in particular, for not following up on this sooner: between family commitments and fall on the farm, it’s been an extremely busy past couple of weeks. I’ll try to rectify that now. Please don’t mistake my brevity for rudeness – I’m going to try to cover a lot of ground quickly.
1) The Stanford study is not the only meta-analysis conducted on organic food, it has been criticized for excluded data and poor statistical analysis, and other studies have reached opposite conclusions. (e.g. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24968103) I think it’s more accurate to say that the jury is still out on this one.
2) Animal welfare is one of the core principles of organic agriculture, and organic standards make specific and detailed references to livestock production, including animal welfare. So while it may be true that organic is “no guarantee” of superior animal welfare across the board, it is certainly inaccurate to portray it as “more narrowly focused on the farming of crops.” (A German newspaper article hardly qualifies as a definitive source.)
3) The pesticide study you cite was a theoretical exercise based on the assumption that organic farmers would use pesticides in the same manner as conventional farmers. They conducted no research to determine how organic farmers actually manage soybean pests, and what type of pesticides they would use (if any), and at what rates. Actual field research demonstrates significant environmental impact advantages to integrated and organic approaches: http://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/?id=1299177185629
4) As for nutrient management, it’s a big stretch to look at the results of a single greenhouse study in Israel and extrapolate them to criticize organic farming in general. As for the meta-review, reading the actual research rather than a newspaper columnist’s opinion of it, leads to very different conclusions. To quote (with my comments in square brackets): “The only impacts that were found to differ significantly between the systems were soil organic matter content [higher/better in organic], nitrogen leaching, nitrous oxide emissions per unit of field area [both lower/better in organic], energy use [lower/better in organic] and land use [higher/worse in organic]. Most of the studies that compared biodiversity in organic and conventional farming demonstrated lower environmentalimpacts from organic farming.” The author ends with a call for an approach that does beyond the simple conventional vs. organic dichotomy.
5) Speaking of which, I discuss organic yields, providing links to several scientific studies in this post: http://thefanningmill.com/2014/08/19/feeding-the-world-beyond-the-gmoorganic-dichotomy/
6) As for the roots of organic farming, any serious student of organic agriculture recognizes that like most similar things, it evolved from a number of significant influences, not just one. In fact, if you had referenced the Wikipedia article on the history of organic farming rather than biodynamics (or even read further down in the entry you cite next), the reader comes upon this statement: “Sir Albert Howard is widely considered to be the “father of organic farming”, because he was the first to apply scientific knowledge and principles to these various traditional and more natural methods.” This plain statement, along with the wealth of research on organic farming available on-line (http://ofrf.org/research, http://www.organicag.org/, http://oacc.info/) directly contradicts your claims that organic agriculture is not evidence- or science-based, both in the past and in the present. I address these false assumptions about organic farming and technology in more detail here: http://thefanningmill.com/2014/06/27/organic-farming-and-modern-technology-friend-or-foe/
Allow me to conclude that I agree with the general gist of Iida’s call for open-minded, respectful dialogue and a willingness to question deeply-held beliefs. I don’t have much patience for radicals in the anti-GMO movement, and I’m no fan of the OCA. But I maintain my original opinion that this piece could use a more nuanced, contextual approach, with less secondary references and more reliance on original sources. Thanks again for giving me the opportunity to respond in greater detail.
Thanks Rob! No problem with not having time before, we all know what that is like. Thanks for your detailed response with more reading. I hope to read through and comment back as soon as my kids will give me a moment. 🙂
I think it is important to have a proper discussion about this, but I found the blog-comment-section less than optimal medium, so I hope you wont mind if I copy our exchange and continue the discussion here: http://discourse.skeptiforum.org/t/iida-ruishalme-s-500-words-natural-assumptions-yes-monsanto-is-pure-evil/53.
I also posted about the discussion on GMO SF, here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/GMOSF/permalink/472350656237523/
I would hate to be contributing to the sea of misinformation on agricultural topics, and if that is so, I most definitely want to know. I welcome the opportunity to have someone engage me in a science-based discussion on the pros and cons of organic farming.
The discourse site has been taken down, but please see my detailed response here! http://thoughtscapism.com/2015/02/24/on-farming-animals-and-the-environment/
I have finally gone through and answered all these points. Please see detailed answers in the Discourse thread. http://discourse.skeptiforum.org/t/iida-ruishalme-s-500-words-natural-assumptions-yes-monsanto-is-pure-evil/53/3
I am disappointed to say I didn’t find much for me to learn anything new from, and I must ardently conclude that your sharp accusation of cherry picking is unfounded.
In short here, please see the discourse thread for actual answers.
1) Nutritional value: Several comprehensive reviews support my presentation. The paper you cited is problematic, see thread for details.
2) Animal welfare: I have found some proof of problems, no proof of benefits. Please provide if you do have some!
3) The argument here is about what pesticides are allowed (synthetic vs organic) and why.
4) The comment above misrepresents the article, which points out problems with nitrogen leaching and nitrous oxide in organic agriculture.
5) The evidence clearly supports the conclusion that yields are lower in organic farming.
6) I should add the citation nr 15 (used a few sentences later) to the sentence about the roots of organic to make it clear where the history information is coming from. I pinpoint many problematic points where organic is not evidence-based. That they are not ‘only natural’ but also use some technology does not change that, only makes it more internally contradicting.
Rob, Don’t apologize. I just a few minutes ago found both of your responses. I have contended for several years now that using a mixture of techniques according to local circumstances will be beneficial, at least until the point of diminishing returns hits as farmers try to ship heavy organic inputs into rural areas, not near CAFO locations. Regarding yields an anecdote. I left a volunteer papaya this year that came up in a pile of fill dirt mixed with horse stall muck. It did so well that I actually harvested about $50 in green fruit off it. It actually caught up to some overwintered in a greenhouse transplants that I never got mulched. 2 lessons learned are that I must never fail to get all the papayas mulched quickly, and that the yield of this one, would have easily surpassed the yield of ones that got synthetic ferts but no mulch. If this can happen with one species by accident. There are probably others. My intent is to grow a few of the older ones with only organic inputs this year to see if I can save money. Also organic growing is clearly a benefit when it comes to recycling organic waste. When done properly. And in my area small farms combined with local farmers markets may be slowing urban sprawl a bit.
@ Lida, Bad news for you. We may be very… very distant cousins. On mom’s side of the family. My grandmother’s maiden name was Mallonen. She was raised in the Finnish are of the U.P. of Michigan.
As I did tell you back then – I would love to find references that do defend environmental benefits of organic farming. Most of all, I would love to find evidence of organic farming orienting itself after scientific evidence. Sadly what I have found so far does not support that.
On regards to the choice of research presented here, I find it sad to be accused of cherry-picking without knowing what research it is that I am ignoring. I did not embark on this in order to discredit organic farming, on the contrary.
Apart from the handful of individual papers which were influential in my journey into learning more, I also reference here what is described ‘the most comprehensive meta-analysis of nutritional studies’ and a 2012 analysis of over a 100 studies across Europe on environmental effects of organic vs conventional farming. I can’t easily ignore the scope of those. As I said, I would love to find more research on the topic. If you think I cherry pick, then I hope you can point out (preferably a similar body of) evidence that I have missed.
You are right. It seems so obvious and there is a wealth of info on the merits of organic gardening that my impatience shows.
So wrong!
Hi there, I encourage you to write comments that improve the discussion. Putting a little effort into improving the discussion means you’ll have a better experience as others will be more inclined to improve it as well.
I’ve read the Omnivore’s Dilemma, and the section on Polyface Farm impressed me. It’s genuinely best practice and not officially recognised as “organic”.
As far as fertiliser goes, there’s another book. “The Alchemy of Air”, which strongly seems to endorse the idea that nitrate fertiliser production is required, to feed the world’s >7,000 million humans.
This of course is another nail in the coffin of the idea that current and recent solar source energy can replace fossil solar chemical energy.
The far more recently discovered nuclear energy is therefore THE alternative.
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” – Mark Twain
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[…] I wrote a piece called Natural Assumptions about organic farming over at Skepti Forum Blog, someone in the comments quickly accused me of cherry-picking and making poor assumptions. I was […]
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[…] will offer my response to the detailed list of criticism posted on the comments section of the Skepti Forum Blog by Rob Wallbrigde (Delving deeper into the roots of organicwho blogs over at The Fanning Mill). I […]
Continued analyses of the points in my piece can be found here: http://thoughtscapism.com/2015/02/24/on-farming-animals-and-the-environment/