The science of much

摘要

Organic farming is at last attracting some of the best scientific minds in the business - all thanks to intense public concern over wheat we eat. A research paper published this year in the American journal Science may be the best news yet for organic farming. After a 21-year study, a group of Swiss researchers confirmed that organic-crop production was better for the environment and for wildlife. It uses less energy, contributes less carbon dioxide to greenhouse gases and sustains larger populations of earthworms, beetles, fungi and wild plants. Sceptics have been quick to point out that yields in the Swiss trials were 20 per cent down on those produced by conventional, pesticide-based farming methods. Organic farming has no hope of feeding the world, they crowed. Well, it has never claimed to be able to do that. Such hubris is largely the province of GM technology. Nor does organic farming base its case on better taste or nutritional quality of produce, though there is reputable research data that supports that contention too. What it promises - and, according to the Swiss research, delivers - is a system of sustainable, long-term food production that maintains natural soil fertility.