Agriculture food fight not needed

by Harn Soper

There is a real food fight going on between two camps: those who support industrial, genetically modified organisms, or GMO-based agriculture that produces food that can only be manufactured with a bar code label on it, and those who prefer local fresh and organic food that can be eaten right off the farm.

Often the battle cry is over who can better feed the world. Only humans would pick this fight. All animal species know exactly what to eat compared with humans, who make food choices that put their health at risk.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimates that $147 billion is spent each year in America to treat diseases linked to our high-fat diet and high consumption of meat.

Before we get sucked into all the rhetoric, it's wise to dispel this myth about which camp can best feed the world. Whose idea was it that the world needed us to feed them anyway?

The most strident voices are advocates for industrial GMO agriculture, such as Monsanto, who routinely reference this myth that says we need to increase global food production 50 percent by 2030 and to double it by 2050 - something they claim only their industrial GMO agriculture can do. This assumes our population grows from 6 billion today to 9 billion by 2050.

Not so, says the Soil Association, a UK charity and organic food advocate founded in 1946. The Soil Association tracked one source back to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and its 2006 report. Based on a list of assumptions that are debatable, the report stated the overall shortfall in production was only 70 percent. To achieve that, the FAO report does indicate the need to double grain production, most of which is fed to livestock - not people. Maybe that's where the doubling food production myth started.

The report also assumes that the demand will come from developing nations that want a Western-style diet filled with much higher meat consumptions. But what country in its right mind would want to abandon its food culture for our $147 billion per year health care bill?

As a farmer applying industrial GMO and organic farming systems, the jury is still out. We farm commercial GMO corn and soybeans and organic row crops. Up next is a farm plan that raises grass-fed livestock and organic vegetables, all integrated into one farming system.

But I assure you, it has nothing to do with this feed-the-world myth. Let's not get into this silly food fight. It is a waste.

Harn Soper of Palo Alto, Calif., is one of 70 family stockholders in Soper Farms Inc. of Emmetsburg. Comments: harnsoper@gmail.com Comments: Blog: http://soperfarms.blogspot.com