Viewpoint: Millions face food insecurity. Following ‘green hysteria’ in rejecting pesticides and fertilizers will make this crisis worse

The 'jihad against the weather' continues while millions lack food security. Credit:  Andrew Esiebo via UNICEF
The 'jihad against the weather' continues while millions lack food security. Credit: Andrew Esiebo via UNICEF

From 2023, the European Union will allocate 25 per cent of its direct agriculture payment budget to “eco-payments” for carbon and organic farmers.

They do this as the world experiences historic starvation levels, caused in large part by Ukrainian farmers unable to sow in shellfire as their wheat is blocked on boats in the Black Sea.

We beat massive starvation across the world, especially in India, during the true green revolution of the 1940s and 1950s because of fertiliser and pesticides. You buy organic vegetables and pesticide-free fruits at a premium price because we grow less of them using the same amount of land.

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This is not a decision to support climate change or not; it’s a question of chemistry and physics in agronomy.

If you take the same quantity of land, and reduce the input, do not expect the output to increase.

To want the same amount of food without fertiliser, pesticides or the ability to clear any land to do it, is relying on faith rather than science.

You can worry about climate change killing people in the future or global starvation now — when nearly 10 per cent are not eating enough, and hundreds of millions are starving to death.

Saying you don’t need fertiliser and pesticides on crops is like saying we should go organic in medicine — no more drugs, anaesthetic or X-rays.

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