This was in response to an article that appeared in Time Magazine in early September 2009.

In your recent cover story titled “The Real Cost of Cheap Food,” author Bryan Walsh presented a sensationalized story; short on key facts.

The author seemed to be blaming American agriculture for contributing to obesity in the U.S.  Not so.  Overwhelming evidence, and most accredited health organizations – including the American Heart Association – refute that myth.  Obesity is not a debate between organic versus conventionally grown crops. The problem lies in consumer’s lifestyle choices; eating prepackaged, processed, and fast foods. For a myriad of reasons, Americans have replaced healthy meals with quick, nutritionally deficit choices – which tend to be heavily imbalanced toward starches, fats and sugars.

Had the author contacted agricultural plant health experts, he would have learned the fertilizer industry has spent hundreds of millions of dollars developing the most effective and efficient fertilizers and application technologies to prevent issues like run-off.
Lastly, organic farming cannot solely feed the world’s growing population. According to crop experts Kirchman, Holger, Bergstrom and Lars, in the 2008 book “Organic Crop Production – Ambition and Limitations” – a scientific work that largely debunks utopian organic food claims – there would be a 40 percent reduction in global crop yields through large-scale conversion to organic agriculture. A 40 percent reduction in yield on a global scale is equivalent to the amount of crops required to feed 2.5 billion people.

While describing the worldwide benefits of conventional fertilizers, the experts summarize their findings with this observation: “It is obvious that worldwide adoption of organic agriculture would lead to massive famine and human death.”  Put simply, you can starve much of the world population so we can feel good about using organic labels, or utilize environmentally safe and agronomically sound conventional systems that will feed the world.  You choose. 

Renee Pinel
President/CEO
Western Plant Health Association