Is orgainc food more damaging for the earth than GM food?

Question

As it has lower yields and it is an ineffiecent way of using land. GM with its high yields can help reduce global starvation and drive down food costs

Answer 1

Study after study have shown that growing food on small scale local plots produces the absolute highest yield of product per acre.

Foods that are genetically modified have to be because the foods that are being grown are not meant to be in huge fields of monoculture crops. It's not how nature works, and so we have to go to the genetic level and fight natures designs. But the by products of this immense industrial agricultural model are immense and damaging. It centralizes food production, which then requires it to be shipped increasing fuel use and air pollution. It requires huge amounts of chemical fertilizer, produced from petrol-chemicals, which pollutes waterways. It also feeds into the mentality that food comes from the grocery store and separates people from the knowledge of how their food is produced. Thus, thinking that food is somehow magically created in the store, people forget that they can grow their own food and take control of their own sustenance.

Global starvation is caused not because there is not enough food, but because of the distribution of food. Also, due to globalization and multinational corporations, citizens of the global south believe that they need to buy things to be happy, and have converted their farmlands into growing cash crops to sell to the first world for money instead of planting what then need in their own communities. If you really want to fight global hunger, you need to refocus people everywhere on local food production, and take the focus off of a solely money based pattern of thinking.

Answer 2

NOT REALLY ITS ONLY THE WEATHER

Answer 3

NO

THERE IS NO GLOBAL STARVATION

The world grows more than enough food

Food prices rise because

more than half is diverted for the production of Ethanol

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Famine is allowed to happen as  part of the depopulation strategy

Organic farming does not use harmful fertilizers and Toxic chemicals



And you cannot be talking about Permaculture

Bad for the market maybe because one deals in multiple produce

Which is why the Organic concept has many Enemies in high places because it advocates independence from corporate farming

Permaculture goes a lot further ,it being the blue print for total self sufficiency including energy,so making most of the government and corporate farming Obsolete

Much higher overall yield with great variety of food products

so little of much

instead of loads of one

But most definitely much .much better for the soil ,because of varied chemical requirements and output.

No contamination of groundwater supplies, soil and air

  and subsequently Peoples Health

PERMACULTURE

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URBANIZATION

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PERMACULTURE AND ANIMALS

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AQUACULTURE

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Answer 4

GM foods will eventually create a food shortage because they are finite products that take from the soil without returning anything.  There has not been any long term studies to determine if they are safe for human consumption.  In a few years we may discover that they cause some new disease that could be incurable.  GM's are like a game of Russian Roulette, you never know if or when it might blow up on you.  GM seeds must be purchased yearly creating a greater cost to the producer which in turn will be passed on to the consumer, thereby increasing the cost of food.  They are dependent on petroleum products as fertilizers.  They are dependent on pesticides (roundup ready).  The overall cost of GM foods is much higher than organics.  In many countries where farmers have been convinced to switch from organics to GM's the farmers have gone bankrupt and lost their land because of 2 reasons.  1.  The high cost of purchasing seed, fertilizer, pesticides, etc.  2. Lower yields.  If the farmers would have continued farming as they had for generations, they would not have lost their farms.

Organic foods are healthier for people and for the environment.   They return a certain amount of nutrients to the soil.  They don't depend on petroleum products for production.  Many organics will reseed themselves naturally or seeds can be saved yearly for the following years planting, which will allow them to adjust to individual climates as years go by.  

Intentional or not, GM foods has become a method of transferring production from family farms to corporate farms.  A single company can own the patent on seeds and control them.  They can plant their seeds in locations where the wind blows the pollen into organic farm crops and contaminates the crop.  The company can then sue the farmer and take his crop or the profit from his crop.  That is not right.  

There's also the danger that the historical heirloom varieties of plants will be contaminated with the GM stuff.  We are in danger of loosing centuries of plants if they are contaminated.  It could limit the world to a small fraction of the variety of foods available in the future.  It's already happened with grains in some countries.  I'm probably not remembering the numbers correctly, but I heard a report that in some countries they used to have over 100 different types of grains and they are now down to only a handful of them, maybe 5 or so.  It's dangerous to eliminate so many historical crops.  If a disease comes along and attacks the few remaining varieties, it would be devastation to the grains of the world.  This is happening in some countries with wheat rust wiping out almost the entire crop in a few countries.  That's part of the reason there are currently food riots in some parts of the world today.

Ethanol production is contributing to food shortages.  A full grown man could eat for a full year on the grain that is used to produce a single tank of ethanol for a SUV.  Talk about having their priorities confused!  The people in control are willing to risk starving a man so they can put a tank full of ethanol in their "BIG ride".  How sad is that?

Answer 5

actually a recent report shows that GMO soy produces 10 % LESS product...

GMO food is basically taking control away from the farmer and putting it in the hand of corporations...

GMO food will raise food costs.. because it is usually TERMINATOR SEEDS - so the farmer cannot cheaply produce his own seeds for future years use.. instead he must BUY from the company.. and eventually the company can (and will) raise its price..

Answer 6

Organic farming is the only type of farming that is beneficial for the environment.  Conventional farming practices strip the soil of valuable nutrients.  Farmers in the long run can't afford to not go organic.  Organic food has been found to have at least twice the nutrients of conventionally produced food.  A contributing factor in most illnesses is a lack of nutrients because pesticides have destroyed the nutrients in the soil.  We don't know what G.M. food will do, but engineering seeds to only produce one generation of crops and to be resistant to a pesticide that kills everything else is extremely dangerous and could cause global starvation.

Answer 7

I do not think that there is a need for GM considering the potential risks associated with it. GM is purely profit motivated and has no consideration for the environment or its effect on those producers who do not take part in its use.

The negative effects atributed to organic farming are only present when it is done on a large or intensive scale. Once again profit outweighs the potential benefits.

Smaller scale organic food production is the best way by far. The only trouble is that the big supermarkets are out of that equasion and that wouldnt do would it?

Answer 8

really good question got me thinking but i dont know the answer sorry!!!

Answer 9

It really depends on the crop you're looking at, but overall "organic" farming is worse for the environment due to land use.  Additionally, many "organic" fruits and vegetables have a reduced shelf life which in turn leads to increased waste.  Many crops are genetically engineered to be herbicide-resistant so that there is no need to till the soil, which saves a great deal of energy and also reduces soil erosion.  Other crops are engineered to fight off insects so that there is no need to spray pesticides of any kind (contrary to popular belief, "organic" farmers use pesticides extensively).

Answer 10

GM foods are a nice concept, sadly being pushed mainly by corporate entities the GMs are being designed to create better corporate profits and not better crops per se. For instance if you introduced a gene into rice to add vitamin A without affecting its taste or adding other detrimental qualities, then that would be great. also very low environmental risks if the gene 'escaped' But of course there isn't much profit in that, specially if you add it in such a way that the seeds produce viable decedent seeds. But no corporations prefer to add genes that resist not just any herbicide, but their brand of herbicide, locking the farmer into buying that seed, each planting, and that herbicide. Now that is also a high environmental risk if that gene ever 'escaped'.  So GM foods as they are currently being promoted are not good for farmers and not good for the environment. The very idea that a corporation can own the genetics to a seed and therefore sue you if you should choose to plant a second generation crop is not a healthy way to feed the world.

Organic food, uses little in the way of external inputs. There are many different ways of defining organic food, but a sensible one is that it uses no artificial inputs at all. Most food grown in this country id organic by that definition as most growers do not have the money to buy any artificial inputs. This county largely exists on sustainable subsistence farming, with towns supplied by surplus subsistence produce. Much of the effort going on is to improve that subsistence agriculture to improve yield and sustainability by simply technology like composting, contour mounding and the like. Plant breading programs also play their part. It is estimated that such simple improvements will result it a tenfold increase in productivity. So there is a long way to go before there is any need to resort to outside inputs.

There is no overall shortage of arable land as yet.

There is a lot of damage being done to arable land by large scale industrial farming. In Australia millions of hectares of arable land have been lost due to salinity problems caused by broad acre farming in an unsustainable manner. Costs of reclamation are enormous.

Organic farming especially when done on small plots is generally sustainable, low impact and tends to improve soil condition rather than spoil it.