Letโs talk about ORGANIC.
Robert Paarlbergโs new book on the food system is out today, and hereโs an excerpt.
Heโs not a fan of organic, and he makes some good points but misses others.
Here we go.
Organic's biggest shortcoming is that you need more land to grow the same amount of food.
The yield penalty happens in almost every crop, in almost every study.
The gap could narrow with more research/varieties, but it wonโt go away.
This has big, bad climate implications.
The second issue I have with organic, which Paarlberg shares, is that its basic criterion is naturalness.
Natural doesnโt mean safe, or even safer. A farming standard based on it forces farmers to sometimes use more dangerous, less effective tools.
On human health, thereโs scant evidence that pesticide residues on conventional produce are harmful to consumers (though itโs possible farmworkers could be at risk).
What I donโt want is for folks who canโt afford organic to worry about feeding their kids conventional produce.
On the plus side, Paarlberg acknowledges that the organic standard has some real advantages for animal welfare.
This is why I buy organic animal products.
Many in the organic world would like more regs ensuring animals have decent lives.
