Is organic the answer to the food crisis?

Organic food

The director of the Soil Association, Patrick Holden, has said that the UK is in danger of running out of food because of the effects of the increasing world population, rising fuel prices and climate change.

Looking in a wider context, by 2050, the world will need to feed another 2.3 billion people. The world will have to increase food output by 70 percent and invest $83 billion annually in developing countries by mid-century, the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization said, Reuters reported.

A combination of the food crisis and the global economic downturn pushed more than one billion people into hunger in 2009.

Solving the crisis

The Soil Association is a charity campaigning for planet-friendly food and farming. They believe in the "importance of the connection between soil, food, the health of people and the health of the planet."

The answer from some farmers over food running out, is to to continue using chemicals and look at new technologies like genetic modification (GM), but the Soil Association doesn't believe this is the answer.

Holden states that the only way to avoid the "food crunch" is to transform farming in Britain to a sustainable organic system.

After a surge in popularity in the 1990s, organic food has become a common feature of almost all supermarkets and food retailers in Britain, organic shops and cafes have thrived, and it is now possible to buy organic snacks at some of the most unlikely venues.

Although one survey found half of shoppers in a major supermarket chain put at least one organic product in their basket, total organic sales have remained only a small niche of Britain's typical annual shopping bill.

The growth of organic wasn't helped last year when a Food Standards Agency study reported that there were "no important differences in the nutrition content, or any additional health benefits, of organic food when compared with conventionally produced food."

After the report, the Soil Association responded by saying "Buying organic food also promotes a healthy environment. Organic farms have on average 30 percent more species and 50 percent more wildlife like birds, butterflies and bees. Compassion in World Farming, the recognised experts, say organic farming has the potential for the highest animal welfare standards."

Growing costs

Holden stated that in the 1970s, Britons spent almost 30 percent of income on food, but today it is less than 10 percent. He says that Britain needs to move back in that direction, the British newspaper The Telegraph reports.

"Our priorities have moved away from food to other things like travel and entertainment. Maybe that needs to shift back? We need to change the national attitude towards the importance of food in our lives."

In organic farming:

• Pesticides are severely restricted - instead organic farmer develop nutrient-rich soil to grow strong healthy crops and encourage wildlife to help control pests and disease

• Artificial chemical fertilisers are prohibited - instead organic farmers develop a healthy, fertile soil by growing and rotating a mixture of crops using clover to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere

• Animal cruelty is prohibited and a truly free-range life for farm animals is guaranteed

• The routine use of drugs, antibiotics and wormers is disallowed - instead the farmer will use preventative methods, like moving animals to fresh pasture and keeping smaller herd size

• The production and use of GM in animal feed is banned

Organic food may have the wrong reputation, but Holden insists that it is worth paying more to protect our environment and health.

As the costs of farming with oil-based fertilisers and chemicals increase, the price gap between organic and non-organic is closing.

Organic may be the answer, it would certainly continue to protect the environment if more organic food was produced. We just have to hope that the cost continues to lower so that it will encourage people to continue buying organic, while also enticing new consumers.

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