Can Organic Agriculture Feed The World? - K.W.T. Goulding (1)
and A.J. Trewavas (2), AgBioView, June 23, 2009
http://www.agbioworld.org (1 Department of Soil Science,
Rothamsted Research, Harpenden; Herts AL5 2JQ; 2 Institute of
Molecular Plant Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9
3 JH., Scotland.) Abstract: In a recent publication, Badgley et
al. (2007) claimed that organic farming, if used worldwide,
would provide sufficient food for a growing world population.
This claim was based on a literature survey of two kinds: (1) A
comparison of organic and conventional yields, assembled, so far
as one can judge, from a mixture of largely research experiments
of rather variable quality and sometimes unpublished material.
(2) An assessment of nitrogen (N) fixed by legumes from
published literature. The two were then combined to calculate,
incorrectly in our view, potential food production. We have
examined the literature basis of these claims particularly on
wheat. There are many omitted references that i