In defense of organic As Grist readers know, "mythbusting" Scientific American blogger Christie Wilcox took on organic agriculture recently in "Mythbusting 101: Organic Farming > Conventional Agriculture." Now, I do agree that there should be no sacred cows -- we should examine everything with a critical, if not jaundiced, eye. And indeed Wilcox brings up issues surrounding organic ag about which many people may not be aware. But sadly, her analysis goes quickly and seriously off the rails.

First the good points: Organic ag does use pesticides, sometimes in large quantities. This is not a new revelation: There are a set of pesticides approved for organic use, including copper and sulfur anti-fumigants and the naturally occurring Bt toxin. Copper and sulfur in particular are often overused, especially among fruit growers. While these chemicals can be used by any scale of farmer, it's a particular problem among so-called "industrial organic" farmers.

Read More

Organic farming just as productive as conventional, and better at building soil, Rodale finds

Organic agriculture is a fine luxury for the rich, but it could never feed the world as global population moves to 9 billion.

That's what a lot of powerful people -- including the editors of The Economist -- insist. But the truth could well be the opposite: It might be chemical-intensive agriculture that's the frivolous luxury, and organic that offers us the right technologies in a resource-constrained, ever-warmer near future.

Read More

Pesticides Suck Today I was following a bright yellow Smart Car on my way to work at the econscious office. When we came to a stop, I noticed a small sticker in the back window that simply said…”Pesticides Suck”. For some reason that really struck me as significant and my mind began to race. The simple eloquence of this shout-out brought me back to the crux of the issue with regard to organic agriculture and organic cotton…Pesticides Suck and we need to keep them from spilling into our eco-system and causing irrevocable harm. While there are other reasons why we choose to use organic cotton in our products, doing our part to reduce the amount of pesticide used in the world is the most important priority.

Read More