Organic Farming Q&A Collection 04: Is now the best time to transition to organic?

Author: Guo Huanren (Professor, Department of Agronomy, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, China)

Imported grain is still cheap, so why not wait until oil runs short before switching to organic?

When converting from conventional farming to organic production, generally speaking, because chemical fertilizers and pesticides are no longer applied but the soil's health has not yet fully recovered, and the beneficial organisms that make fertilizer and control pests and diseases have not yet returned, yields in the first three years will be quite low. It takes a long time for organic agriculture yields to reach a normal level. Given that oil shortages and food crises may appear in the near future, organic agriculture needs to be adopted as soon as possible. If we wait until easily extractable oil is gone before we are forced to adopt organic production, we will be unable to meet the demand for food.

How should the government promote organic agriculture?

Our country has been promoting organic agriculture for more than 20 years, yet organically farmed area currently accounts for only 0.5% of cultivated land, showing that there is still great room for effort. Because the European Union provides subsidy policies for the transition period, giving farmers extra income during the transition to make up for yield losses, the proportion of organic farmland area there has already approached 5%, 10 times more than our country. But 5% is still on the low side, so whether in our country or in Europe, the crux of the problem must be diagnosed before organic agriculture can be effectively promoted.

The crux lies in the inability of governments' agricultural policies to "transition." With most policies still continuing to subsidize conventional agriculture, organic agriculture naturally cannot make great strides. This depends on a strong consensus among all citizens to push for legislation requiring the government's policies to transition, as the foremost task in promoting organic agriculture.

Specifically, the government should focus on the following tasks:

1. Investigate the implementation of organic agriculture so as to propose planning and development plans;
2. Widely establish organic agriculture production zones and monitor and improve the environment of organic agriculture zones so as to enable smooth organic production;
3. Reward the transition to organic agriculture, strengthen disaster relief for organic agriculture production, set up sales channels for organic agricultural products, and carry out public education and promotion of organic food so as to encourage farmers to transition to organic agriculture;
4. Encourage the training of organic certification personnel so as to meet demand;
5. Enhance the capacity for organic agriculture science and technology research and development, education, and extension.
6. Others. (Series to be continued)