'Cheap food,' not organic, may be answer to food shortage, economist says
UN, farmer argue organic growing not to blame for crisis
Last Updated: Monday, June 2, 2008 | 12:21 PM ET
CBC News
A Danish agricultural economist, questioning the ethics of organic farming, says conventional methods would yield larger harvests to replenish food stocks around the world.
Henning Otte Hanse, a senior adviser at the University of Copenhagen's Institute of Food and Resource Economics, said reverting to traditional farming tactics may be the best short-term solution as consumers struggle with the rising price of food.
"The yields of organic farming are lower," Hanse said. "You produce less per hectare."
"You must stimulate production of cheap food to feed the people that are suffering," he said.
Danish farmer Ingvar Jorgensen disagreed with Hanse, saying ecologically sustainable methods of farming should remain a priority — even for developing nations in the midst of a food shortage crisis.
"They must [teach] the people down there to feed themselves and give them the right tools to start," he said from his farm on the island of Samso.
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said organic farming is not to blame for the food shortage, but acknowledged the use of artificial fertilizers may be necessary to help replenish low stocks in the future.
"We don't believe that the current food shortage has anything to do with ecology. Organic farmers produce good and healthy products, and ecology is a growing income for poor nations," Christopher Matthews, a FAO spokesperson, told the Copenhagen Post.
"However, we don't believe that it's possible to feed nine billion people in 2050 without prudent use of artificial fertilizers," he said.
A Statistics Canada report released in May suggests shoppers have been sensitive to environmental and industrial changes that have driven up the cost of groceries.
Food costs outpace inflation: EU
For example, products including pasta have increased in price by 6.4 per cent from 2006 to 2007 in part owing to drought, low wheat inventories and the burgeoning bio-fuels industry. Similarly, the price of bread jumped 7.1 per cent over the same period.
The European Union on Monday said the rising cost of food outpaced the rate of inflation over the past year. In year-over-year comparisons, food prices surged 7.1 per cent from April 2007 to this April, while the overall inflation rate was 3.6 per cent.
The EU said crop conversion to support the biofuel industry has played only a small role in raising the price of food. The two main factors that have pushed up costs are demand in developing countries and weak harvests, the EU said.
Dairy prices in the EU increased 14.9 per cent, cooking oils and fats 13.2 per cent, and breads and cereals 10.7 per cent over the past year.
With files from the Associated Press
