Organic Farming: The Reality

By Josh Sonnabend

Organic Farming:• USDA Consumer Brochure-Food that is produced

without using conventional pesticides, fertilizers, or bioengineering

• $2.6 billion to $26.7 billion increase in sales since 1997

• This is unlikely to continue in the long term due to a variety of factors including:• Economics• Inconsistency in health benefit data• The major growth in the world population

Background on Organic Farming

Organic production yields 25% less on average◦ Producers must

receive a high premium on products

Generally higher premiums around population centers

The Economics/Agronomics

Although it is widely believed that organic food is healthier/safer, data is not supportive of this claim◦ Indian Journal of Medical Research: “What is clear

from our analysis, however, is that there is currently no evidence of major differences in nutritional content between production regimens and from a public health perspective, the differences that we did identify are not important in the context of a normal healthy diet”

Perceived Health Benefits

Currently, the world population sits just under 7 billion◦ Expected to reach 9

billion by 2050 2 billion person

increase needs to be fed on a virtually fixed amount of land

World Population Growth

The world trend is an increase in the amount of meat in our diets◦ Requires more grain to

feed livestock Cattle feed

conversion ratio◦ 6:1calories

Hog feed conversion ratio◦ 3.4-3.6:1calories

Shift in Diets

Organic agriculture, while possibly having its place as a niche market, will not become the major practice in the United States due to:• Reduced yields leading to a less competitive

economic ability for producers• The inability to find data supporting organic food’s

perceived health benefits• The rapidly growing world population• The increase in meat consumption per capita

worldwide

Conclusions

Reubold, Todd. "http://www1.umn.edu/news/news-releases/2012/UR_CONTENT_383487.html." . University of Minnesota, 26 Apr 2012. Web. 8 Apr 2013.

Dena M. Bravata, et al. "Are Organic Foods Safer Or Healthier Than Conventional Alternatives?." Annals Of Internal Medicine 157.5 (2012): 348-366. Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Apr. 2013.

Ricardo Uauy, et al. "Nutritional composition & health benefits of organic foods -- using systematic reviews to question the available evidence." Indian Journal of Medical Research Apr. 2010: 478+. Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Apr. 2013.

Goodman, Ryan. "http://agricultureproud.com/2012/02/06/cattlemens-college-cattle-feed-efficiency/." . Agriculture Proud, 6 Feb 2012. Web. 8 Apr 2013.

Losinger, William. United States. Department of Agriculture.Feed-conversion ratio of finisher pigs in the USA. Fort Collins, CO: , 1998. Print.

Sources