A Comprehensive Analysis of Eight Major Misconceptions About Organic Agriculture

Organic agriculture has a history of nearly 20 years in China. The national organic plant production area (including cultivation and gathering) is about 2 million hectares, and organic products have gradually gained general public recognition. However, due to reasons such as some enterprises seeking quick success and instant benefits, the low knowledge level of organic producers, severely lagging organic agriculture research, and the lack of effective mechanisms for government supervision, domestic organic food has faced credibility issues in recent years, which has affected public trust in organic food and constrained the development of organic agriculture in China. At present, there are still some misconceptions about organic agriculture and organic food in China. This article intends to discuss these in order to clarify the facts and benefit the healthy development of organic agriculture.

Misconception One: Organic agriculture means returning to tradition

Some people believe that organic agriculture is traditional agriculture, that is, a return to the past. In essence, this is a negative view. Organic agriculture, or natural farming, does have historical inheritance. The natural farming method founded by Mokichi Okada and Masanobu Fukuoka in the 1930s-1940s advocated "no tillage, no pesticides, no chemical fertilizers, no weeding." The development of modern agriculture cannot be separated from the support of science and technology. At present, some countries where organic agriculture has developed relatively well, such as Germany and Denmark, have adopted a considerable number of new technologies. Returning to tradition and abandoning modern technology is not feasible.

Misconception Two: Organic agriculture is unachievable

Some people believe that farming cannot be done without pesticides and chemical fertilizers, so organic agriculture is almost impossible to achieve. Under the influence of this thinking, quite a few people feel that organic farming should be developed in those "remote and backward places," and organic agriculture is thereby further marginalized. In fact, organic agriculture represents an environmentally friendly development model for agriculture. It should not be affected by geographical location. Organic agriculture can be carried out anywhere, and worldwide organic agriculture research and practice have proven that organic agriculture is entirely achievable.

Misconception Three: Organic agriculture equals low-yield agriculture

"Organic agriculture means low-yield agriculture" has become a widely "accepted" view. Research by the University of Essex in the United Kingdom on more than 200 projects in developing countries found that organic yields increased by an average of 64%. Our long-term positioning study of organic vegetables conducted in Quzhou, Hebei, showed that organic tomatoes had yields slightly higher than conventional tomatoes for 5 consecutive years from the very beginning. From these studies, it can be inferred that organic does not necessarily mean low yield.

Misconception Four: Organic food is highly nutritious

An article published in the Journal of Complementary Medicine in 2001 pointed out that 21 essential nutrient elements in organic crops were higher than in conventional crops. Other studies also showed that organic vegetables and fruits contain higher levels of vitamins as well as polyphenols and antioxidants. The public generally believes that organic food is "more nutritious" compared with conventional food, and feels that not applying chemical fertilizers and pesticides means high nutrition. But scientific research has not proven this. After summarizing and comparing 55 related studies, British professor Alan D. Dangour found that from the perspective of nutritional quality, there is no difference between organic food and conventional food.

Misconception Five: Organic food is environmentally friendly and safe

Consumers generally believe that organic food must be environmentally friendly and safe. This view has a certain scientific basis. But in reality, both safety and environmental protection are relative concepts. If organic agriculture inputs large amounts of improperly treated farmyard manure, it can also bring potential heavy metal and microbial contamination. From an environmental perspective, organic agriculture can help improve soil, retain moisture, and maintain biodiversity, but the difference between organic systems and conventional systems in greenhouse gas emissions is not large.

Misconception Six: Organic agriculture can leave the soil?

In recent years, some places in China have been promoting organic soilless cultivation technology. Introducing soilless cultivation into organic agriculture goes against the purpose of organic agriculture. Among the four principles of organic agriculture proposed by IFOAM (health, ecology, fairness, and care), it is advocated that organic agriculture should sustain and enhance the health of soil, plants, animals, humans, and the planet as one and indivisible. One core of organic agriculture is cultivating healthy soil. Generally speaking, organic soil is black in color, loose in structure, and has a higher earthworm density than conventional soil, which is difficult to achieve with soilless cultivation.

Misconception Seven: Organic agriculture is agriculture for the rich

The high price of organic food is also a widely spread view. With the expansion of organic production scale and the improvement of logistics systems, organic food prices will return to a reasonable level in the future. At present, organic food prices in the vast majority of developed countries are about 120%-200% of conventional food prices. It is obviously unreasonable for organic food prices to be several times or even more than ten times higher than conventional food, and this is a distortion of the market.

Misconception Eight: Organic agriculture is the future direction of agriculture

After more than 20 years of development, the global organic agriculture planting area still accounts for only 2%-5% of the crop planting area. In the foreseeable next 20 years, organic agriculture will not become the mainstream direction of agriculture in most countries. But denying that organic agriculture is a leading direction is also not entirely scientific:

1) Organic agriculture may completely become the dominant form of agriculture in certain local areas;

2) Organic agriculture represents human society's reflection on the traditional Green Revolution and active exploration of future alternative agriculture;

3) Organic agriculture technology and practice reflect the third agricultural revolution.

If organic agriculture technology and practice are carried out starting now, they will certainly provide strong technical and policy support for the transformation of agriculture.