Organic Agriculture Can Feed the World (a great read!)

[nosmokes]

original

Organic Agriculture Can Feed the World

GM WATCH daily
Nov. 4, 2005
http://www.gmwatch.org
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EXCERPTS: If GMOs cannot feed the children in the country that is the world's third largest producer of GMO crops, how will they feed the rest of the world?

It costs tens of millions of dollars and takes many years to develop one genetically modified plant variety.

Organic agriculture is the quickest, most efficient, cost effective and fairest way to feed the world.
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Organic Agriculture Can Feed the World
Leu, Andre F.
Chairman, Organic Federation of Australia

Abstract

Proponents of industrial agriculture state that synthetic biocides, soluble fertilisers and genetic engineering are necessary to feed the worlds growing population. Several authorities further state organic agriculture is not capable of this task.

This paper looks at numerous and diverse data sets from around the world, showing that given the right conditions, organic agriculture can deliver sustainable high yields. Organic agriculture programs initiated by several organisations have substantially increased yields for many third world communities. This has been done with very low input and infrastructure costs to these communities and has substantially increased their standard of living. Data from the advanced agricultural economies of North America, Australia and Europe show that best practice organics can deliver equal and to significantly better yields than current conventional agricultural practices.

Introduction

Several of the high profile advocates for conventional agricultural production have stated that the world would starve if we all converted to organic agriculture. They have written articles for science journals and other publications saying that organic agriculture is not sustainable and produces yields that are significantly lower than conventional agriculture. Avery (2000) Trewavas (2001)
The push for genetically modified organisms (GMOs), growth hormones, animal feed antibiotics, food irradiation and toxic synthetic chemicals is being justified, in part, by the rationale that without these products the world will not be able to feed itself.
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complete article here.
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[dcfirefighter]

1. Economics

We raise the price of labor ~30% through taxation
We raise the price of capital ~15% through taxation
We exempt land from most taxes.

This is why our agriculture (and other industries) seek to minimize labor inputs, simultaneously increasing inputs from capital (machinery, irrigation, energy) and land (land, oil).

Were we to have a more fair tax & monetary system, we'd minimize land inputs while maximizing labor and capital inputs. Organic/Sustainable agriculture minimizes land inputs, while generally increasing labor inputs.

In short, don't tax labor.
Don't tax (man-made) capital. (it's really just mostly someone else's labor)
Tax the hell out of land & natural resource use.

The first step is to get your local government to shift their property tax off of buildings and on to land values.

[nosmokes]

2. good points. we need a tax structure that doesn't penalize

working for a living and reward great wealth.