Food - Going Small

Change We Can Stomach makes the point that organic farming makes more per acre of farmland than conventional farming, the food tastes better, and is more nutritious. And that with the increase in oil price, that small scale farming makes more sense and would reduce hunger all over the world.

John Ringo on the other hand in Centurion, has this quote:

And they weren't willing to work nearly hard enough. If you're going to organically farm, you'd better be ready to work ten times as hard as an industrial farmer. And I mean "swinging a hoe" hard. And "picking the corn" hard. (The latter is not harvesting.) Why? Weeds. Pests.

Organic has it's place, but there is a cost. What was not mentioned in the article was the cost of subsidies (such as Ethanol, sugar, etc.) that distort production. Growing rice in deserts (like California and Australia) are examples. And that there is enough food in the world, the problem is getting it to the places that need it. Not to mention how Genetically Engineered foods require less pesticides and can be easier to grow. Summary - nice article from a cooks point of view, but the market will decide on organics (which has a lot of questions on what is really organic).Already at my local market there are many organic items for sale, such as eggs. So I have the choice do I want to buy organic or pay less and not. On stopping hunger that is a lot deeper issue than the article hinted at.