Organic and Biodiversity part 2

Recent University of Leeds research suggests that, because of a lower yield, organic farms are worse for biodiversity.

(Another of Lux Viatour's picture: can't access his site at mo, so you can see more here)

The research suggests that there will be a need to ramp up production in light of population growth, and the sacrifice of land to organic farming would thus be too great, notwithstanding 12% more biodiversity on organic farms.

The yield argument is, however, questionable. The research presumes that conventional farming can continue as is � in other words, the research has failed to take into account both the finite nature and climate change-causing elements of fossil fuels in farming and food.

Also, organisations like the UN FAO suggest that productive yield would increase in the places where hunger is most acute, were farmers to change over to organic farming from their current type of farming, which is subsistence farming.

Excluding the contentious issue of yield the biodiversity case for organic farming is strong.

For one thing, Biocides (pesticides, herbicides etc) and biodiversity are in basic terms incompatible. biocides are designed to kill, and they kill both target and non target plants and animals.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service point out that �about 40 pesticides ...are known to kill birds even when applied according to label instructions�. They also point to the difficult to calculate but nonetheless very real fact of indirect bird deaths from pesticides, in highlighting 67 million direct annual bird deaths from agricultural pesticides:

�The number of birds lost in a poisoning event can only be estimated; biologists believe that for each bird carcass found and reported, approximately 100 others are never found� and that since �World War Two, the manufacture and use of pesticides in the United States has increased ten-fold�.

According to a peer reviewed literature review by Hole et al (2005), of 76 studies comparing organic and conventional farming on biodiversity:

66 out of 99 comparisons found organic benefited wildlife more than conventional farming. 25 found mixed results, and 8 against organic. This ranged across all major taxon (insect, plant and animal species).

Neither of the two groups of researchers who conducted this research had a vested interest in organic farming.

Norton et al's (2009) peer reviewed study found that, even comparing like with like - equally �heterogeneous landscapes� in both organic and conventional farms, organic still scores better. In other words, even when there is mixed farming on a varied landscape, the organic farms in these places are still better for wildlife than the conventional ones.

There has been little research in Ireland on biodiversity and farming. O Brien et al (2008) overviews research into biodiversity and arable farming in Ireland. They point out that �only one study has compared the biodiversity of organisms in organic vs conventionally grown crops in Ireland� this study found �a greater abundance (78% higher) and diversity of beetles in the organic plots.�

While lamenting the lack of research, they do point out that �the research that is there suggests that conventional crop cultivation has had an adverse impact on biodiversity on Irish farms, with 15 of the 21 studies demonstrating negative trends for the taxa investigated.�

It is also the case that the farm-related losses in biodiversity in the last 60 years related to conventional farming anyway. According to Dr Gordon Purvis, who led the five-year Ag-Biota project on biodiversity and farming in Ireland ; �while bumblebees as a group are still readily found on typical farmland, our findings reveal that their abundance and diversity on moderately-to-intensively managed farmland may have declined by at least 50 per cent over the past 20-30 years.�

More diversity in plants and animals also means that the planet is more likely to function harmoniously. Monocultures � in farming and nature � expose us to everything from wildfires to famines.

Then there is the farm itself: separating farming and nature can be considered a category error, mainly because organic farms are part of nature and society at one and the same time. The farmed foods are more biodiverse, as is what surrounds them.

Vote No on Prop 16

Currently, California state law gives local elected officials the right to arrange to provide electricity within their jurisdiction through a contract with an electricity provider other than investor-owned utilities. If Proposition 16 is approved by voters, it will take a two-thirds vote of the electorate before a public agency could enter the retail power business. This will make it more difficult than it is currently for local entities to form either municipal utilities, or community wide clean electricity districts called Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs).

People�s strongly supports a consumer�s right to choose their power source and recommends a No vote on proposition 16 in the upcoming June election.

Click here to learn more

ORGANIC FARMING ISN'T BETTER FOR BIODIVERSITY? GIVE ME A BREAK!

This is a 2 parter, and I'm afraid I can't post the second part 'til this time next week.

(beautiful picture is by Luc Viatour see here for more)

Conventional farming is better for the environment, once yields are taken into account.

That's the main finding of a two year study by Professor Tim Benton, of the University of Leeds.

His research examined which production methods could increase food yields with the least impact on biodiversity.

Benton, a conservation expert, compared 192 fields on 32 farms in central south west england and the north midlands, taking into account over 30 variables covering climate, topography, socio-economic conditions, land use and soil type.

The study concluded organic farms produced less than half as much food per hectare as ordinary farms.

This is important, according to Benton, because �over the next 40 years, we're going to have to double food production worldwide to keep pace with population increases�.

The study did find that biodiversity levels were 12% higher on the organic farms, and that clusters of organic farms were found to be especially beneficial in biodiversity terms. Benton, however, finds this to be too little to assuage the yield losses, though he does concede that organic farming will have a role within the broader agri-food sector, especially in less productive regions of the UK.

So what does this mean for the organic sector? The answer is revealed as much in the nature of science as anything else.

As science becomes ever more specialised, the bigger picture gets left out. So, for example, climate change and the finite nature of resources are ignored in this study.

The study basically presumes that farming will have an indefinite supply of oil and synthetic fertilizers, and can continue without consequence or responsibility. It also presumes population growth and western style consumption patterns.

These are massive presumptions. And yet, resources are actually running out, farming is implicated in climate change, and, as it happens, population growth figures keep getting downgraded.

And herein lies another 'small picture' error: feeding people.

In the west, there is the production of the wrong types of food in the wrong sorts of places. There is overeating and wasting of food in mesmeric proportions: obesity, and the waste of 1/3 of all food, 2/3 of this even before it reaches the consumer, attest to this.

Then there is hunger itself. Recent UN FAO research suggests organic will increase yield, and do so in a sustainable way, where it is most needed. Where people are actually hungry, organic production methods are a step up from subsistence farming in yield terms.

Organic farming in these regions is also labour intensive and agri-industrial input sensitive: in other words, it uses the available resources (labour and nature) without introducing unsuited, expensive and environmentally destructive agri-industrial inputs, inputs that reduce the land's ability to feed into the future, and increase the risky strategy of monocultural food production.

�In market-marginalized areas, organic farmers can increase food production by managing local resources without having to rely on external inputs or food distribution systems over which they have little control and/or access���Organic farms grow a variety of crops and livestock in order to optimize competition for nutrients and space between species: this results in less chance of low production or yield failure in all of these simultaneously. This can have an important impact on local food security and resilience� according to the UN FAO.

Only in a world of chronic food dumping and unfair subsidies can the first world even attempt to feed the 3rd world: and even then, it is the food dumping itself which prevents local food production from emerging.

Conventional farming has also chronically indebted 3rd world farmers, as exemplified by the recorded suicide rates of farmers who go down this route on the Indian subcontinent.

A study of 300 peer reviewed articles into the effects of this industrialisation of farming in the third world found that economic inequality increased rather than decreased in 80% of applicable cases.

So no, farming as is will not provide the necessary yield to feed the world. Next week, the biodiversity case itself will be examined.

What My Food Looks Like

On the porch in early April, some 'before' shots. This is broccoli.

I'm eating this ornamental kale 'cause I love the colors.

A speckled lettuce.

The most bodacious spinach growing in the Earth Box again. I've been eating this since March, so good.

Kale & Finch

Life attracts more life.

Supper from the Garden

Here's how we do it at the Sidetrack Cafe on a rainy March day off.

Home made pizza with 

tomatoes that I grew and canned

leeks from the garden

onions and garlic from last year, still good!

and beautiful oregano, deeeeeelish!

New Research Initiative into Irish Organic Milk

A new research initiative into Irish organic milk was launched in Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) recently.

The initiative, a partnership between LIT's Shannon Applied Biotechnology Centre (ABC) and the Irish Organic Milk Producers Ltd will be conducted by Dr. Daniel Walsh and Dr. Tracey Larkin from Shannon ABC.

(pic: LtoR Pat Mulrooney, Tracey Larkin and John Liston)

The researchers will examine samples of milk from the Irish Organic Milk Producers, from conventional milk farmers and also imported organic milk.

The research will be conducted for a period of 12 weeks and will test antioxidants, antimicrobial and immunomodulatory activity in the milk.

John Liston, research officer for the Irish Organic Milk Producers, expressed delight at the opportunity to work with Shannon ABC to highlight the benefits of local organic milk.

The Irish Organic Milk Producers Ltd consists of 14 certified organic dairy farmers. Pat Mulrooney Chairperson of the group stated that �as farmers using organic methods we have a thorough knowledge of the high quality of our product before it leaves the farm gate. However once our product leaves the farm gate we have no control over it�.

He elaborates: �It is therefore important that as the primary producers we maintain control over our product by adding value to it. This research partnership will prove the benefits of organic milk and allow us to advertise and market our unique product to consumers�.

The Company have plans to launch products, and will be able to use the findings of the research to promote their milk � provided of course the findings differentiate organic Irish milk from other milk in a positive way.

At the launch, former Minister of State for Food Trevor Sargent TD, stressed how important the organic dairy sector had been in other European countries, such as Austria, in leading the way for the development of the organic sector: high demand for dairy products convinced significant numbers dairy farmers to convert to organic production.

�We in government are committed to the development of the organic sector and my colleague Ciaran Cuffe is looking forward to working in this area. In 2009 we invested �8.7million in the organic sector and we will continue to invest to ensure that the sector expands to reach its full potential�.

Markets for organic dairy remain reasonably strong, both in Ireland and the UK

The most recent TNS figures (September 09) report that year on year, the value of organic dairy grew by 24.8%: even the previous 12 weeks, a slower period across the organic sector, organic dairy grew by 11.4%.

The organic yogurt market also grew in Ireland in 2009: by 32.8% year on year, and by 26.6% in the 12 weeks up to September 2009.

As reported in recent weeks, there have been interesting developments in the organic dairy sector, both in Ireland and the UK.

The UK organic diary market grew by 1% in 2009. Whilst this is small, it is against a backdrop of an overall 12.9% organic market decline. The arrival of Donegal Cremeries into the Irish market has had a significant impact here: their yogurt range is stocked in ALDI. Prices have begun to drop, with intense price competition in the organic yogurt market in Ireland. Indeed, prices have even dropped in the last month, and special offers have become almost routinised.

Glenisk have moved into the Northern Irish market, while leading UK Yogurt brands such as Yeo Valley and Rachael's already have a presence in Ireland.

Although the number of organic dairy farmers in Ireland is small, there are causes for optimism.

The emergence of the Irish Organic Milk Producers is, from a farmer's perspective, a positive. Farmers will receive more of the economic benefits from further along the food chain, benefits usually harnessed by food businesses.

It is also likely that there will be an increase in the numbers of organic dairy farmers in the coming years, due to upcoming conversions.

Hemp is our history week

Celebrate Hemp History Week on Monday, May 17th at the La Jolla Brew House. It�ll be a free night of industrial hemp product giveaways, entertainment, hemp beer and more! As part of the night�s celebration, the Brew House will be honoring the late Jack Herer �one of the greatest hemp activists of our time � with a screening of �Hemp for Victory�, a U.S. Government video that the government tried to deny existed until Jack rediscovered it.

The evening�s main presenter will be Dion Markgraff editor and historian of the hemp plant. Also speaking will be David Bronner, a former board member of Vote Hemp and a member of the Dr. Bronner family.

The La Jolla Brew House is located at 7536 Fay Street in La Jolla. (858) 456-6279