Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food

In 1920, corn yields were approximately 20 bushels/acre. Today growers of hybrid corn harvest about 160 bushels/acre.

organic corn yields were 94% of conventional corn, organic soybean yields were 94% of conventional, and organic wheat yields were 97% of conventional.

Critics of organic agriculture, like Vaclav Smil,

cover crops also have other critical roles. They help suppress weeds, deter the build-up of insect pests (if they are not a host of the same pests that attack the crop), and add organic matter to the soil. This added organic matter enhances microbial activity and builds soil structure.

If you add 10,000 pounds (5 tons) of compost per acre, you will add 100 to 200 pounds of nitrogen, 30 to 150 pounds of phosphorus, and 200 to 300 pounds of potassium. Since these nutrients are chemically bound within organic molecules, the nitrogen will be released gradually, roughly 15% in the first year, with the remainder being released in succe

Because sewage sludge in the United States is presently contaminated with cadmium, zinc, and copper, its use in organic agriculture is prohibited by the USDA “organic standards.”

While the first couple of plantings usually have few earworms, the later plantings can get ugly. I view earworms as a problem that both organic farmers and consumers accept in exchange for the benefits of not spraying insecticides, and which may someday be solved in a reasonable way.

It takes the energy equivalent of thirty gallons of gasoline to produce the synthetic N, P, K needed to grow an acre of corn

At the long-term research farm at UC Davis, after nine years of growing a corn and tomato rotation, organic corn yields were 66% of conventional, while there was no statistical difference between organic and conventional tomatoes