The International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems (ICROFS) is the world’s leading pro-organic research centre, so the results come as a devastating blow to the organic industry.
Despite claims by organic proponents (such as Britain’s Soil Association) the evidence is now overwhelming that “organic” is simply a marketing label that confers no advantages to human health or the environment.
The latest research, funded by (ICROFS) comes from the University of Copenhagen and is published in the latest edition of Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. This is the first research ever to look at minerals and trace elements in crops then up the food chain when fed to animals.
Organic vs conventional farming practices
Carrots kale, peas, apples and potatoes – staple ingredients in most families’ diets were cultivated by either:
Crops were grown on similar/identical soil on adjacent fields so experienced the same weather conditions and were harvested or treated at the same (recommended) times. Then, the crops were fed to animals over a two year period and intake and excretion of minerals and trace elements were measured.
At harvest there were no differences in mineral or trace elements found in fruit and vegetables grown by any of the three methods; similarly, levels were the same in the animal meat after slaughter
The only difference was significantly higher yields of fruit and vegetables from the conventional fields and the very low productivity from the organic fields.
These results confirm a 2006 study which was the most comprehensive ever metabolic comparison of wheat from organic and conventional agriculture. German researchers found no significant differences in levels of amino acids, sugars and 44 metabolites between the conventional and organically grown wheat.
Anti-oxidants in organic fruit
Organic proponents, however, continue to point to a few studies from 2003 and 2004 which demonstrated higher concentrations of flavonoids in organically grown corn, strawberries, marionberries and tomatoes.
Flavonoids are natural pesticides produced by plants when under attack from insects; other phenolic anti-oxidants may be produced when plants are under stress such as drought or competition from other plants (as in over-planting). In humans, flavonoid and phenolic anti-oxidants may have anti-cancer effects (but these are purely speculative at present).
Unfortunately, since plants only produce more flavonoids only when diseased, there is a balance to be struck between:
If flavonoids do fight cancer, they will be required in vastly higher concentrations that can be found in vegetables or fruit. They would need to be taken in supplement form – like high dose Vitamin C.
Climate Change worsened by organic farming
Although proponents claim that organic farming is better for the environment, this is as much Greenwash as oil companies that claim to be green. Unfortunately, a host of minor celebrities and instant environmentalists (see Jamie Oliver, Prince Charles, Gwyneth Paltrow, Trudie Styler, Zac Goldsmith, Mark Watson) have led a public relations campaign to convince the public that that organic means “good for the environment and climate change.”
In fact, there is a substantial body of research to show exactly the opposite. Proper life cycle assessment (LCA) research shows that organic farming:
... than conventional farming. It was LCA research that demonstrated the adverse effects of biofuels – after “environmentalists” had praised the idea for years. We now know that integrated no-till techniques using modern fertilisers and pesticides can sequester 41% more carbon than organic methods while also increasing yield by 110%.
Sadly, proponents still misrepresent the facts about organic farming. Most of the organic propaganda in the US originates from from "research" at the Rodale Institute which was:
"... created by visionary J.I. Rodale who moved from New York in the late 1930s to rural Pennsylvania, where he was able to realize his keen personal interest in farming. He learned about organic food-growing concepts being promoted by Lady Eve Balfour and Sir Albert Howard and theorized, based on their work and his own observations, that to preserve and improve our health we must restore and protect the natural health of the soil.”
Rodale had no scientific evidence to suggest that Lady Eve’s “organic” idea was better than conventional farming. They both just “felt it to be true” emotionally. The Rodale Institute takes this as its steering principle so its "research" must be taken with a large dose of healthy scepticism.
The main “peer-reviewed” publication on which organic fans rely to show that organic farming can produce as much yield as conventional farming is:
Pimentel, Hanson, Seidel et al. Environment, energy and economic comparisons of organic and conventional farming systems. Bioscience. July 2005. (55:7); 573-582.
Sadly, for its scientific veracity, this was not a scientific study but a "review" of other studies that was funded by the Rodale Institute, carried out at the Rodale Institute and co-authored by employees of the Rodale Institute. This makes it utterly worthless as a piece of disinterested science.
If Monsanto (for example) sponsors a study from an independent university, using only independent scientists and independent farms, the results are condemned by “greens” as “biased”. How much less credible are papers from the Rodale Institiute?
The rosey Nazi views of organic founders
A concern for those “liberals” and “progressives” who support organic farming should be the highly reactionary Nazi-sympathisers who founded it and whose ideas continue to influence the movement today. “Visionsary” JI Rodale was inspired in England by Lady Eve Balfour (daughter of a Conservative Prime Minister) who invented organic farming and founded the Soil Association. His other inspiration was Sir Albert Howard who was a member of several secretive anti-Semitic and Nazi-sympathising groups of aristocrats such as the openly fascist Viscount Lymington. Another was Jolian Jenks, a member of the British Union of Fascist Blackshirts which terrorized Jewish neighborhoods in London. Jenks remained editor of the Soil Association’s magazine until well into the 1960s.
A recent history of organic farming in Britain reveals much of its hidden fascist origins.
Another look at the origins of the organic movement is found in:
English Blood and Soil
From the EcoFascism website.
Some selections:
Fox is even more enthused by “author, farmer and one of the founders of the British soil conservation movement”: Lady Eve Balfour. “The health of the soil, plant, animal, and man is one and indivisible.” wrote Lady Balfour in The Living Soil (1942). Fox notes: “there was no real scientific evidence of this at the time, but she felt it was true.” Lady Balfour believed in a return to using horses. (69 & 70)
Fox leaves out a few facts about Lady Eve’s crowd. Lord Northbourne was a member of the propaganda group “Kinship in Husbandry” led by Viscount Lymington, an organic agriculture expert. The Viscount, a former Conservative MP, was openly fascist and a member of the clandestine, aristocratic fascist organization “English Mystery”. The Viscount introduced Jorian Jenks into Kinship in Husbandry.
Mr. Jenks, a farmer, was a prolific propagandist for the British Union of Fascists specializing in agricultural issues. The BUF printed shocking pamphlets on how industrial fertilizers cause cancer. In 1940 Jenks and 800 of his comrades were incarcerated. The Viscount, being an aristocrat, was spared the indignity. Both Viscount and scribe were back at it after the war with Jenks editing, and helping write, “Mother Earth” magazine - the main publication of Kinship’s successor, Lady Eve Balfour’s “British Soil Association”. During this time, Jenks developed an acquaintance Walter Darre, a leading Nazi ecologist. (71)
Throughout Fox’s history of this hidden literary Tradition she blithely mentions how critics have often referred to the Traditionists as: “fascist”, “reactionary”, “Nazi sympathizer”, “very conservative”, or “redneck” etc. Inscrutably, at one point in her anti-industry polemic she quotes Albert Speers. (“There is nothing to stop unleashed technology and science from completing its work of destroying man...”) Speers is casually, unnecessarily introduced as just another authority in spite of having been the Nazi Arms Minister. (72) Finally, Island Press, the publisher of Fox’s book, is a Ford Foundation front group- folks with closet-skeletons.
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