The Utility of Organic Food

[ramik]

Tom Philpott wrote an excellent article in Grist that ought to be required reading for anyone who wants to take part in the organic food debate. Interestingly, the strongest part of his argument for organics is not their effect on human health (which he does argue, but which I think the evidence for is a little weak), but rather their effect on

Comments

[diotavellian]

Interesting article. I worry about trying to capture too much with the labels "organic" and "conventional", though. For example, one thing that has a huge impact on soil quality, ag pollution, etc. is the amount of tillage. Some weeds become more of a problem when you decrease the amount of tilling you do (though a few might become less of a problem). Targeted application of herbicides can help limit the amount of tillage you need to do. (And sure, I do mean "targeted" and "limited", not "make herbicide-resistant corn and spray down the entire field repeatedly". I also totally recognize that people are developing organic no-till strategies relying largely on cover crops - and I think that's great, because it can help limit or eliminate herbicides, which it seems plausible we'd want to do for health/environmental reasons. But I guess my point is this: if applying limited amounts of herbicide can help decrease tillage, that might be a net environmental benefit. And, in any case, I'd like to see people talking more in these terms, rather