Can we feed the world with just organic agriculture? No, says pro-organic Swiss agronomist

Credit: Research Leap
Credit: Research Leap

The earth has to feed more and more people. Can that only work with organic farming? “No,” says Urs Niggli, modern science is also needed. What does the Swiss agricultural expert mean by that?

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He explained to Dora Schöls in advance why bio and technology are not a contradiction in terms, that you just have to distribute the money differently and whether you should go for regional or organic apples in the supermarket.

Urs Niggli. Credit: Heinrich Böll Foundation/Wikipedia

BZ: Mr. Niggli, what did you have for breakfast today?

Urs Niggli: I only have coffee for breakfast. But of course organic coffee.

BZ: We will have to feed ten billion people around the world. How can that only work with organic?

Niggli: Of course that doesn’t work. Organic is an interesting option – for part of the area. European agriculture is very intensive. But we have to get away from pesticides.

[Editor’s note: This article was originally published in German and has been translated and edited for clarity.]

This is an excerpt. Read the original post here (Behind paywall).

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