There are some good points in here, but some erroneous ones as well. I would tend to agree that organic farming uses less water in situations where the farmer is practicing a lot of crop rotation &/or using a lot of manure for fertilzer; as a result the soil probably has a higher organic matter, which makes it capable of holding more water. This would often be the case for small or medium sized mixed farms. If the organic farm is a large scale producer following similar crop rotations as a nearby conventional farmer or where the volume of manure available is insufficient to fertilize a lot of hectares I can't see any real reason that organic would use less water. Its not true that organic farmers don't use pesticides. They use plenty, just not 'synthetic' ones. They use high rates per hectare of a lot of traditional remedies like sulfur, copper, borates which they deem OK because they are 'natural', and are only non-toxic to workers and the environment if handled properly, just like any chemical. Its probably true that organic farms employ more people, because they have to do things like weeding with hoes, but its not exactly fun work that people are lining up to do. Profitability on a per unit basis is definitely better for organic farmers because they charge a lot more for their produce, so the extra profit comes at the consumer's expense. But it also costs more to produce organically, not the least of reasons why is that the yields are usually less so the per unit cost is higher. If you consider that somewhere in the world more land is pressed into production to make up the yield gap its not a good use of resources.
Published by Rob Neill, Head of Global Marketing, Strategic Collaborations at Syngenta
There are some good points in here, but some erroneous ones as well. I would tend to agree that organic farming uses less water in situations where the farmer is practicing a lot of crop rotation &/or using a lot of manure for fertilzer; as a result the soil probably has a higher organic matter, which makes it capable of holding more water. This would often be the case for small or medium sized mixed farms. If the organic farm is a large scale producer following similar crop rotations as a nearby conventional farmer or where the volume of manure available is insufficient to fertilize a lot of hectares I can't see any real reason that organic would use less water.
Its not true that organic farmers don't use pesticides. They use plenty, just not 'synthetic' ones. They use high rates per hectare of a lot of traditional remedies like sulfur, copper, borates which they deem OK because they are 'natural', and are only non-toxic to workers and the environment if handled properly, just like any chemical.
Its probably true that organic farms employ more people, because they have to do things like weeding with hoes, but its not exactly fun work that people are lining up to do.
Profitability on a per unit basis is definitely better for organic farmers because they charge a lot more for their produce, so the extra profit comes at the consumer's expense. But it also costs more to produce organically, not the least of reasons why is that the yields are usually less so the per unit cost is higher. If you consider that somewhere in the world more land is pressed into production to make up the yield gap its not a good use of resources.