In defence of organic food

Summary

PEOPLE are keener than ever to make ethical, environmentally friendly food purchases. But a spate of bad press about the environmental impact of organic produce may leave some people scratching their heads. The debate about this is contentious. Critics say organic farming is less efficient than conventional farming, and so uses more land, leading to greater deforestation, which causes higher carbon dioxide emissions and biodiversity loss. A recent paper followed this logic to find that going 100 per cent organic in England and Wales would raise these emissions by up to 56 per cent. The claim made headlines