I believe Organic farming can feed the world, a few links for those interested.

[peacebird]

My family chooses to eat locally grown grassfed meat, very locally grown chicken, eggs & honey (our own), and organic fruits and veggies. This is our choice. Several posters here are virulently anti-organic, they denigrate the intelligence of those who choose to eat organic foods as anti-science believers in woo. Or just fools throwing their money away.
They frequently make claims that we cannot feed the world without GMO crops, a point i feel is short sighted considering the energy & environmental costs of conventional factory farming. I believe farming is more sustainable when we grow good soil, deep & rich in humus, in which to grow healthy crops. I find this method preferable to spraying on pesticides and petro based fertilizers. Below are a few links that might interest you if you are interested in the discussing organic vs conventional farming. If you simply want to bash organic, please skip on to another post. Thanks!

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/organic-farming-can-feed-the-world-if-done-right-scientists-claim-9913651.html

http://althealthworks.com/1366/wake-up-before-its-too-late-new-un-report-calls-for-dramatic-shift-toward-natural-agriculture/

http://www.cheatsheet.com/business/can-organic-agriculture-feed-the-worlds-hungry.html/2/

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/organic-farming-yields-and-feeding-the-world-under-climate-change/

http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/282/1799/20141396

[pipoman]

1. I have no problem with organic if that's your thing..

Traditionally yields are lower and it is more labor intensive. I don't believe most people have spent enough time in the agricultural states to get a feel for the vast volume of production in the US. Oh, I hear the whole we shouldn't be making fuel out of food, and livestock eat more food than they produce, but the reality of our food sourcing is what it is. Between our own demand and our vast food exports a minor reduction of production or increase of labor equals vast amounts of money in food cost and taxes....this isn't to say that we have seen an upsurge in local/organic products available over the past few years, just that a tiny, tiny portion of the population seek out and buy these things beyond the 'organic' isle at the Kroger...

[WCLinolVir]

3. Yeah, things are so great the way they are.

Why bother changing practices as the ones we utilize on a massive scale are sooo successful.
I get so tired of this smoke screen that organic can't supply the demand and never do the arguments actually address the harm that these current practices do to our environment and our stability on this earth. It's bs. Go ahead and address the issues for once instead of blowing smoke about unsustainable practices and learn how sustainable organic farming actually is.
Have you ever even had a garden?

[pipoman]

4. A realist who buys nearly a million dollars worth of food annually

Both locally sourced when available, and commercial production. I manage 7 community gardens worked by around 90 people. Pretending one knows or understands the sourcing of food is different than actually sourcing food. Reality is what I understand.

Have you actually studied food sourcing or is your experience based entirely on sourcing for a family of 4? A 5% increase in food cost equals $50k on my nonprofit, that means one less person gets health care next year.

[WCLinolVir]

6. You still did not address the issues.

Telling me that you manage community gardens is not the same as actually growing on a larger scale. And the same old arguments always come up from people who only look at the bottom line in terms of dollars and cents. Food sourcing is not the same as understanding how agricultural practices have a greater global significance when such practices are unsustainable.
Every body has to make choices and take responsibility for how their priorities have a global effect. Cheap food sources that have utilized unsustainable practices that lead to environmental toxicity have a price tag that you refuse to address.

[pipoman]

10. Yeah, my immediate concern is feeding 300+ people 3 meals per day

( half of whom are sustained by ever declining medicaid reimbursement.) And leaving as much as possible for treatment of things like gangrenous foot sores, dementia treatment, clean clothes, and entertainment for people who would otherwise be eating cat food.

"Unsustainable" is a subjective term used by people with all of their immediate, dire needs met...how about you spend your wealth, donate say $100k per year to our nonprofit, and I will buy organic all the time, until then I have greater immediate concerns for real people who depend on me to eat.

[WCLinolVir]

13. Hey guess what. I'm on Medicaid.

I have an immune disorder. I do get how hard it is to make it. I guess you know I don't have 100k a year. I have spent the past 4 years teaching myself to grow sustainably. And I do quite well and feel so much richer for it. I eat better that most people, as I can and preserve. I am a resource for our community for sustainable, productive gardening practices. I make choices.
It is exhausting as I do not have physical reserves, and I can't afford to hire someone to help. But my garden keeps me going.
And for any skin infection, open wound, bed sore, I highly recommend organic honey. Mannukian. First of course you should flush with sterile solution, etc.. The bacteria eats the honey, not the flesh. The honey speeds healing. Gangrene means that there is no longer a blood supply to the tissue, it is dead. It can not be healed.
Kudos to you for all you do. it does not sound easy.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

28. I notice that sort of line of thought all the time.

The old 'You only think that way because you're rich, you have no idea how hard it is for the poor' attack. Of course, like yourself, I'm on medicaid, and my income has been below the poverty line (way below) for the last six years. People can't believe that those who aren't living the 'high life' might actually think it might possibly be best to think in the long term, and not merely agree with them on short term political and economic bandaids.

[druidity33]

5. unfortunately

since Organic has become a big market, there are plenty (and will be more) of gigantic Conventional ie. mono-cropping Organic farms. I agree with the premise that Conventional farming depletes soil, but so does Conventional Organic farming. I can only see a few ways in which America would convert to small growing regions consisting of small plots being worked by many people... and if we get there, i suspect there will be other more pressing problems to deal with. I think Permaculture, Forest farming and HugelKultur have a lot of promise... but it will take a large investment on crative, but unproven concepts. I also look forward to a time when we can freely use the techniques of "A Pattern Language" in our buildings and public spaces more often.

So yes, going Organic is really just a starting point in the dialogue of building a more sustainable (for lack of a better word) reality for life on this planet... good luck in your corner of the world!

[WCLinolVir]

12. Yes, monocrops are a problem.

But I do see large organic farmers are aware and addressing this issue. People will have to take responsibility when they understand the price tag of cheap food. But that does not mean it becomes too expensive, or inaccessible. It might take several different alternatives, depending on your food choices and where you live.
I see great value in each person trying to grow a portion of their food, for our planet, and our understanding. And I agree that small farms are a model for what is sustainable. We have to get beyond the concept of one product production.

[pipoman]

22. The fact is that I have lived in farming states and around

Agriculture my whole life. Yields are mostly tied to weather conditions and have continued to increase 5 and 10 year averages for decades. The idea of small organtic farms taking over is romantic the realities of the volume of American produced food consumed here and abroad dictates production methods...if (historically when) there is a better way, it will be used...

[KittyWampus]

7. Yields are no less. That is incorrect.

[pipoman]

17. That is very much arguable...

[Cha]

2. I'll always K&R for Organic Farming~mahalo pb

[Travis_0004]

8. Why the need to argure?

If you like organic, eat organic. I really dont care, but I dont care if you choose to eat organic. Ive planted a few fruit trees in my yard and buy corn from a neighbor a bike ride away, so Im not against locally grown, for the most part, I just dont care.

[KittyWampus]

9. I as concerned about mono-cropping as the use of conventional chemicial pesticides/fungicides.

It's the entire industrial agricultural system.

Including the water thirty plants being grown over the quickly depleting aquifer in the SouthWest.

[Yo_Mama]

11. Every time I look at the costs of the food sold as organic, I don't.

But more to the point, I don't see the benefit to many organic foods.

There is often more pesticide residue on organic foods than there is on non-organic, and some of those pesticides are QUITE TOXIC.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/science-sushi/2012/09/24/pesticides-food-fears/
https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~lhom/organictext.html

I would be more concerned about household chemicals (fumigation, bug sprays, etc) than I would about most foods. That doesn't go for some food grown or processed in India or China, which can be dangerously contaminated.

This Slate article contains some more realistic information:
http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/the_kids/2014/01/organic_vs_conventional_produce_for_kids_you_don_t_need_to_fear_pesticides.2.html

Research conducted by Bruce Ames, director of the Nutrition & Metabolism Center at the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute, has found that Americans consume about 1,500 milligrams of natural toxins from plants a day, which is approximately 16,000 times more than the 0.09 milligrams of synthetic pesticides we get from food every day. These natural toxins are for real, too: According to Ames’s work, the natural chemicals that are known to cause cancer in animals and are found in a single cup of coffee are about equal in weight to a year’s worth of our exposure to synthetic pesticide residues that are known to cause cancer. In a 1996 report, the National Research Council, a non-profit institution that provides expert advice to the government, noted that “natural components of the diet may prove to be of greater concern than synthetic components with respect to cancer risk,” in part because “synthetic chemicals are highly regulated while natural chemicals are not.”

Plants have had millions of years to evolve chemical warfare on their own, and they're good at it. We also evolved eating the products of that war, and we are adapted to it.

[Major Nikon]

15. The claims of organic rarely live up to reality

An organic label simply means the product complies with the National Organic Program's approved methods. It doesn't mean sustainable. It doesn't mean more nutritious. It doesn't mean safer. It doesn't mean the food is locally grown and isn't distributed by "big agra". All it really does is satisfy chemophobia for an upcharge.

[Omaha Steve]

14. Marta and I love the Horizon organic brand

We started with them for milk. Then cheese. Then....


Product line here: http://www.horizondairy.com/products

The DHA in our milk is vegetarian too. Not from over fished waters.

INGREDIENTS
Organic Grade A Reduced Fat Milk, DHA Algal Oil*, Vitamin A Palmitate, Vitamin D3. *Ingredient not found in regular milk

[moonbeam23]

16. Organic just TASTES better

And food is cheaper than doctors

[jwirr]

18. I don't know if it can feed the whole world but I do think that rebuilding the soil as you discribe

is the only way to go when it comes to areas that have poor soil problems. I lived in Iowa for many years and watched the farm chemicals slowly destroy the clean drinking water sources in our area (NW) until we can no longer drink our water.

[PasadenaTrudy]

20. I buy what's on sale n/t

[Blanks]

21. The price of gasoline has an inverse effect on locally grown food...

If you think about it.

If the price of gasoline (and diesel) went up to about $5 a gallon and stayed there. Locally grown food would have a price advantage over the food that has a lot of miles on it. It would limit the diet of people to consist of more foods that could only be grown locally, but it would encourage more locally grown food.

When we talk about sustainability, I don't think as much about the soil as the entire transportation infrastructure dedicated to hauling food around the country. The kind of foods that I see grown locally are foods that don't end up on the shelf at the grocery store without a whole bunch of processing. I see crops like soy beans, wheat and corn.

If we had a food economy that encouraged rotating cattle and crops and eating more food that was grown locally as opposed to 'economies of scale' operations, it would create local jobs in agriculture similar to what it was like 30-40 years ago. Every community had small farms with farmers that raised cows, pigs, chickens and crops.

Now we don't have local auction yards and cattle are raised on huge polluting feed lots.

We have lost our way because of cheap fuel.

[Omaha Steve]

23. The only brand of chicken we buy at the store

https://www.cafetecumseh.com/SmartChicken/



In addition to the care and husbandry that goes into raising and processing Smart Chicken, Tecumseh Farms Organic birds are exclusively fed a certified organic grain diet. Tecumseh Farms is the only chicken producer in the country to offer a product line that is both certified organic and certified humane by Humane Farm Animal Care. LEARN MORE

[peacebird]

24. That's the brand chicken we buy when we can't get local! Good quality.

Hey Omaha Steve, do you have a link for made in USA sweats?

[Omaha Steve]

25. Look here first

http://www.allamericanclothing.com/

[peacebird]

26. Thank you!

[Omaha Steve]

27. OR here

http://www.unionlabel.com/sweatshirts.html

[Worried senior]

29. We buy this chicken

too.

I was very impressed with the butchering skills too. No unnecessary stress for the chicken.

[on point]

30. Time to crash human pop. Already outstrips carry capacity

That is the crux of the problem. Everything else just avoids the problem

Better spend money educationing women than investing in GMO (reduces pop growth vs poison planet)

Better invest in better transport and food storage in Africa than GMO, etc

[RiverLover]

31. Big R & K!! Thanks peacebird for making the world a better place!

Limits Sought on GMO Corn as Pest Resistance Grows
http://www.wsj.com/articles/limits-sought-on-gmo-corn-as-pest-resistance-grows-1425587078

GMOs lead to increased wide-spread, over-used toxic pesticide use

Millions of bees die because of Neonicotinoid pesticides manufactured by Bayer and Syngenta and 94% of GMO corn in US is treated with either imidacloprid or clothianidin pesticides.

A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that Neonicotinoid class of pesticides and clothianidin adversely affect the immune system of honeybees by promoting replication of a viral pathogen in them.

According to the Italian scientists, a molecule is triggered by Neonicotinoid pesticides that could harm bees’ colony. The researchers discovered that neonicotinoid insecticide clothianidin can increase the levels of a specific protein in bees and negatively affects the immune system response in bees and make them more susceptible to be attacked by harmful viruses and pathogens. ...

[GreatGazoo]

32. There is a new combination of housing and organic farming -- you share a farm instead of

something like a golf course. Neat concept, same idea. healthier life style.



Agritopia opened 2 years ago -- eco-friendly housing sharing an organic farm:

http://thefarmatagritopia.com/

Yes organic can feed the world. It did for the first 100 million years. You can get 3000 pounds of veg from a 1/4 acre, easily and with only a little more effort than it takes to water, fertilize and mow 1/4 acre of grass. With the shared farm there is added convenience and economy of scale.

[peacebird]

34. Very cool!

[Omaha Steve]

33. Marta made patty melts last night from Bison

There are no hormones or antibiotics.

http://www.greatrangebison.com/bison_facts.html

7. What are the health benefits of eating Bison?

Since Bison are wild animals, the meat is naturally leaner. It has less fat and calories and more protein and iron than a comparable portion of beef, chicken, or even some fish. The meat does not marble as beef does. Additionally, Bison is non-allergenic and is raised naturally, without the use of hormones and antibiotics.

8. Why is Bison meat more expensive than beef?

A) There is less of it, i.e. supply and demand.
B) The breeding stock is more expensive.
C) The meat is more expensive to produce.

9. Grass-Fed or Grain-Fed?

In order to ensure consistent quality all of our bison are finished with natural grains and hay. Environmental variations on the high plains, coupled with changing market conditions, make supplemental feeding necessary to produce fresh, premium quality Bison year round.