The Food and Agriculture Organization will host an international conference on organic agriculture and food security in May. The objective of the conference is to evaluate the contribution of organic agriculture to food security by analyzing existing information on the state of organic agriculture and where further research and policy work is needed. The conference will run from May 3 to 5 at FAO's Rome headquarters.
The conference will seek to analyse the claims of promoters of organic agriculture that it provides an important alternative to conventional agriculture, and that it is the only way to eradicate hunger in poor, dry and remote areas where it is most severe. Also examined will be counter-claims that organic farming is inefficient, requires more land than other methods and fails to meet food needs, especially when practiced on poor soils and when the products are sold to elite consumers.
Some opponents have gone so far as to state that “the greatest catastrophe that the human race could face this century is not global warming but a global conversion to organic farming – an estimated 2 billion people would perish.” Attacks on organic agriculture also refer to environmental unfriendliness (such as destruction of the rain forest) and transportation and distribution inefficiencies resulting in more food miles and carbon emissions.
Despite the controversies, organic food is the world's fastest growing food sector. It attracts the interest of governments, agribusiness, farmers and consumers, while the impact of this expansion remains poorly understood. The lack of reliable global data, comparable models and systematic analysis, as well as flawed arguments on the contribution of organic food supply systems to global food security, fuel heated debates within the scientific community and in FAO.
There is a need to clarify the contribution of organic agriculture to food security and to demystify this subject so that FAO can provide objective and informed advice to its member countries.
Participants wishing to contribute to the conference are invited to send a summary (maximum 1000 words) describing research results or case studies related to organic agriculture and food security.
Conclusions should be made on opportunities/constraints offered by organic supply systems to food security in the medium/longer term and at different levels (household; local community; national; and international) with reasonable assumptions being made where lack of data make projections impossible.
More information is available on the FAO organic agriculture website.
