ARTICLE: Bridging the Organic-Conventional Divide

The following is an article by food journalist Russ Parsons at TakePart on how some farmers are using both conventional and organic farming methods.

Listen to the arguments raging today about how our food is grown, and you might think that there is a vast gulf separating organic farmers who nurture their plants with little more than good intentions and conventional farmers selling fruits and vegetables drenched in poison. You’re either buying from barefoot baby Jesus, or you might as well be mainlining Agent Orange.

But having spent the last 25 years covering the intersection of food and farming for the Los Angeles Times, and having written a book on the subject and participated in panels and symposiums involving both farmers and environmentalists, I’m here to tell you that the reality is much more complicated.

Though both sides have strong arguments to make, the real world in which most of the nation’s food is grown falls somewhere in between. As with so many of the discussions having to do with where our food comes from, the gray area just keeps expanding.

Call it sustainability, call it agriculture 2.0, or just call it good farming: Today’s leading-edge growers are embracing the best practices of both organic and conventional farming to come up with a blend that can produce enough food to feed a growing population while preserving the health of the environment.

That’s a good thing, because the challenges we face in feeding the world are only going to get more ominous.

To read the rest of the piece, please visit the TakePart website.