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Josh Sonnabend
Professor Lynn McCool
Eng 250
8 April 2013
Organic Farming: The Reality
Throughout the past decade, we have seen rapid growth in the industry of organic
farming. In fact, from 1997 to 2010, organic food sales in the United States increased from $2.6
billion to $26.7 billion (Bravata 348). Along with this growth, however, a large amount of
speculation on whether or not this is the correct way to feed our world has arisen. Overall,
although organic farming may have its place as a niche market, it is not feasible for every
farmer and will not become the standard in the United States. There are many reasons for this,
including the economics and agronomics underlying the practice, the inability to find sufficient
data supporting its perceived health benefits, and the rapid increase in demand for food caused
by an increasing world population and shifting dietary practices.
Perhaps the most important factor in whether or not organic farming will become a
staple in the United States is the economics beneath it. For a farmer to convert from
conventional to organic farming, it must be more profitable. At this
point in time, that is only true for certain crops in certain areas,
generally specialty fruits and vegetables near large population centers.
Essentially, it is difficult for organic crops to compete with conventional crops specifically based
on efficiency. According to a study by the University of Minnesota, as an average across the
variety of crops in the study, one can expect approximately a 25% reduction in yield when using
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organic practices versus conventional (Reubold 1). In order to compensate for this reduction,
the price received for the crop by the farmer must be substantially higher. Along with the yield
loss, organic production is much more susceptible to disease, insect, and weed pressure. This
added risk once again increases the premium that the farmer must receive in order to convert
to organic farming. While a small percentage of the population, at least at this point in time, is
willing to pay this premium, without an increase in demand, the profitability will not be there to
incentivize a large portion of farmers to convert their practice.
Many consider the driver of the surge in the organic food movement to be the belief
that organic food is healthier, safer, and more sustainable than conventional food. However,
the data to back up this claim is severely lacking. In fact, many studies have revealed that there
are virtually no health differences between organic and conventional foods at all. According to
a study by the Annals of Internal Medicine:
Despite the widespread perception that organically produced foods are more
nutritious than conventional alternatives, we did not find robust evidence to support
this perception. Of the nutrients evaluated, only 1 comparison, the phosphorus content
of produce, demonstrated the superiority of organic foods (differences were statistically
significant and homogenous), although removal of 1 study rendered this result
statistically insignificant. (Bravata 358)
Another study, done by the Indian Journal of Medical Research, states:
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
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health perspective, the differences that we did identify are not important in the context
of a normal healthy diet. (Uauy 479)
Unless results from studies begin to change, the odds of a large portion of consumers to be
willing to pay a high premium food that is not proven to be more nutritious than its alternative
is highly unlikely.
One of the foremost problems facing the world today, specifically one that has escalated
in the past decade, is the issue of food security and the ability to feed a rapidly growing world
population. Currently, the world population sits at just over
6.9 billion people. However, by 2050 we are expected to
exceed 9 billion people. This 2.1 billion person increase is
going to need to be fed on a virtually fixed amount of
farmable land. To compound the issue, a large shift in diet is
occurring throughout the world, specifically in eastern Asia. As the world shifts towards a
higher consumption of meat per capita, the amount of grain needed to be produced increases
dramatically. For each calorie of beef produced, it takes approximately six calories of grain for
feed (Goodman 1). Even hogs, a more efficient animal in terms of feed efficiency, have a feed
conversion ratio of approximately 3.28 calories (Losinger 1). Clearly, this causes a small increase
in the amount of meat in the average human diet to need a large increase in the amount of
grain produced. With these numbers in mind, it makes it very difficult to see a scenario in which
taking the 25% yield reduction from organic farming will be beneficial to the world as a whole.
Although the statistics are trending for organic foods to continue to rise in terms of both
food market share and overall production, this is likely only to be a short term movement. In
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order for developments such as this to be sustainable in the long term, the data and statistics
must support the trend. At this point, this is not the case. Economically, the data does not
support the conversion for a large portion of producers, specifically in the Midwest. In terms of
the perceived health benefits from organic food consumption, the research and data is severely
lacking. With that in mind, the global population continues to grow at an alarming rate,
specifically in Eastern Asia. As all of these factors come together, it causes the odds for organic
farming becoming the long term norm in the United States to become highly unlikely. It is much
more likely that it will remain as either a niche market or will slowly phase out over time.
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Works Cited
Reubold, Todd. "http://www1.umn.edu/news/newsreleases/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-feedefficiency/." . 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.
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Reviews
1) Tim Gitchel
-Thesis is in the middle of the introduction paragraph, would be clearer at the end.
-Missing citations
-Clearer transitions between points, possibly by adding headers for major topics
-General cleanup
2) Cassandra Knutson (writing and media center)
- citations
- couple wordy sentences
3) Paula Kovarik
-citations
-couple grammar mistakes