The origins of anti-organic rhetoric in the 1950s
Can organic farming feed the world?
For over seventy years, most agronomists and soil scientists have said that the answer is no. The belief that organic farming is unscientific has been passed down from one generation of researchers to another through informal conversations in labs, in the hallways at conferences, and over a beer after a hard day of field work. For decades, making derogatory comments about organic farming has been as much a part of ag lab culture as rooting for the university football team.
Even today, when most agricultural universities have at least one faculty member doing organic research, anti-organic sentiment lingers among older agronomists and some of their students. They may regard organic farming as a “nice niche” to sell to privileged consumers, but there’s no way it could feed the world. Only the best conventional agriculture can do that!
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