In recent years, many have claimed that only GM (Genetically Modified) and non organic means of production, can feed a growing world population.
That this runs completely contrary to the available evidence, is due to the bias and financial muscle of large agro-chemical and GM companies, who have dominated this argument.
A recent study by Rutgers University, State University of New Jersey, 8th oldest in the USA, has shown that in trace elements and dry weight, organic food is of substantially better quality than non organic food. In the case of cobalt, none was traced in cabbage, lettuce or tomatoes in non organic production compared to 0.15, 0.19 and 0.63 parts per million respectively in the organic production.
Boron, which is essential to prevent illness was between 4 to 12 times more in organic food than non organic, as for instance in tomatoes, where organic was 36 parts per million and non organic was a mere 3.
No wonder that our NHS is collapsing under the strain, when people believe that their five a day, should be healthy and yet it can still be deficient in essential minerals like boron.
Even more scary is iron. Non organic tomatoes are 1 part per million of iron, that is basically nil, while organic tomatoes are 1938 parts per million !
Guess the so called Green Revolution was a con because industrial chemical use has leached the soils so much, that there is virtually no actual soil left; as one can easily observe on chalk soils on the top of the Downs in SE England. The only way to regain the mineral content in these soils, is simply to return the worm content and natural manure and compost content to these soils, which would provide body and prevent soil erosion.
This has been proven by several organic producers, who during conversion back to organic production, found an initial drop in yields, but as the soil recovers like a sick patient, the yields increase above those of non organic production.
This was true of Leontino Balbo Junior in Brazil, who has no less that 16,000 hectares of organic sugar, on previously chemically exhausted soil. At first, everyone laughed at him as his yields dropped; but he had the last laugh when after several years they eventually recovered and now stand at one third higher than the other chemical production. He has also found that his sugar cane is resistant to yellow virus, because his local ecosystem is now in balance and more resistant to disease as the mineral content in the plants has recovered. He is the world's largest organic sugar producer and wildlife freely roams the plantation to manure the ground, so he has proved that if one works in harmony with nature, as Prince Charles has pointed out, then everything in nature will benefit. Prince Charles, has returned a meadow to organic production, and now has 4 species of orchid growing there.
I hope this lays to rest the idea that you can feed the world with more and more intensive farming. Quality food is not just how shiny a tomato looks, but it is the mineral and vitamin content of that food. A German zoo found that when they stopped feeding their chimpanzees commercial bananas, and fed them on their normal wild bananas, they became less aggressive and their teeth were in better condition. Commercial bananas have too much fruit sugar for them, but doubtless have a considerably higher mineral content than farmed bananas, As my grandmother was one of the very earliest (about 30th) founder members of the Henry Doubleday Reseach Organisation founded in 1954 and I was always organic as well, I obviously have an axe to grind, but what an important axe !
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