20100209 agchat farm efficiency information links

Farmers are business people, alchemists, scientists, economists, and stewards of the land. But sometimes they need help with that most basic and necessary of skills: marketing. Last week I sat in on a Cornell Agriculture extension seminar on the power of storytelling.

City Farm is a sustainable vegetable farm bordering two very diverse Chicago neighborhoods: Cabrini-Green and the Gold Coast.

Recently, I've come across several people who have the impression that organic farming is much less efficient than conventional farming (e.g. here). Many smart people, including Ph.D.'s here in Berkeley, take this for granted, but I have never seen the data to convince me that organic farming is so much less efficient than conventional farming.

Organic farming can yield up to three times as much food on individual farms in developing countries, as low-intensive methods on the same land—according to new findings which refute the long-standing claim that organic farming methods cannot produce enough food to feed the global population.

Organic farming produces same corn and soybean yields as conventional farms, but consumes less energy and no pesticides, study finds