A new study takes a close look at organic farming methods, and how they compare with industrial agriculture. The scientists looked at organic and agroecological methods such as long crop rotations (alternating crops year-to-year) and polyculture (growing several crop species together in one field) and found they yielded much better results than their bare-bones organic counterparts. Simply eliminating pesticides does not make a farming system agroecological and many organic farmers recognize this. In fact, when this stripped down organic farming is compared to conventional farming, its yields are about 19 percent lower. Bare-bones organic practices provide a floor of prohibitions that reduce harm compared to conventional agriculture. But the implementation of ecologically based practices like crop rotations is critical as we move forward.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 05:55:40 +0000
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