Tim Worstall

Union Leader Speaks Out

Lord Melchett, leader of the union for organic farmers (otherwise known as the Soil Association) makes an interesting claim today:

Climate-friendly food is wherever possible seasonal, organic, locally
sourced, unprocessed wholefood, in a diet with less but better quality
meat and dairy products…

Leave "localy sourced" aside for we know that’s not necessarily true. Concentrate on the organic. Organic farming requires more land than conventional and it’s difficult to think that ploughing up more forest or pasture to grow the organic crops reduces emissions.

In fact, for arable crops the lowest emissions come from no till farming. This leaves much of the carbon from the crop (which has been fixed from the atmosphere) in the soil. And, unfortunately, no tillfarming  and organic are not compatible, for the former requires the use of herbicides.

But then he’s a union leader, advancing the interests of his members, not someone we expect to actually tell the truth.  So in reality, organic farming expressly bans the most climate friendly form of farming.

In

5 responses

  1. Judge Avatar
    Judge

    Oops, your final paragraph seems to have been excessively tilled…
    Tim adds: Ta. Little typo there, now fixed.

    Reply
  2. Jono Avatar
    Jono

    There seems to be something wrong with the article in terms of its sentence order.
    And what do you mean by this:
    Leave “localy sourced” aside for we know that’s not necessarily true.
    Tim adds: That report showing that NZ lamb, even after transport, has lower emissions than home grown.

    Reply
  3. Chris Harper (Counting Cats) Avatar
    Chris Harper (Counting Cats)

    Organic is a triumph of marketing and spin over fact. There is no evidence that organic, all else being equal, produces food to any higher quality than conventional farming, and certainly is much less productive.

    Reply
  4. StuartA Avatar
    StuartA

    Tim adds: That report showing that NZ lamb, even after transport, has lower emissions than home grown.
    Yeah, you know the one — the same report that Tim thought proved “[g]lobalisation reduces climate change”.

    Reply
  5. Jim Winfield Avatar
    Jim Winfield

    This Lord Melchett is the same who appeared on the news recently, campaigning aginst the purchase of green beans flown in from Kenya. Those “food-miles” you see. “Don’t buy from poor farmers in Africa, buy from rich inefficient ones in England – my members.” So, behold the titled lord, leader of the campaign to “Make Poverty Permanenet”.

    Reply

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