In the interest of balance on Rural Trader, I think it is only fair that I address the organic vs conventional farming issue from a purely scientific perspective. No hyperbole and no sacred ideology.
Is organic farming all it's cracked up to be? I will leave the value judgements, the “shoulds” and “shouldn'ts” up to the ideologues who are quite happy to cherry pick data and statistics to support the preconceived ideas.
The next few blog entries will take a closer look at organic farming as compared to more conventional methods, and some of the claims surrounding this topic.
Until we see more concrete cabbages and brass calves we won't see inorganic farming either. All the nasty herbicides and pesticides are organic chemicals (apart from perhaps sodium chlorate) and fertiliser is maybe half and half. But without some inorganics like lime and phosphate nothing can grow. And what about nitrates? Nature needs to be in balance and the hype is of no help to anybody.
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