Is organic food worth the cost?
source : mother nature network:
By Russell McLendonFri, Oct 08 2010 at 11:09 AM EST
• Benefits of organic farming
• 有機農業的好處
The organic movement began as a reaction against synthetic fertilizers, but it soon evolved into a big-tent alternative to many aspects of modern agriculture, including chemical pesticides, preemptive antibiotics, monocultures, factory farms and genetically engineered crops. Below are some of the main environmental and human health arenas in which supporters say organic farms beat conventional ones:
有機運動剛開始是反對使用人工合成肥料的一種回應，但它很快演變成在許多方面替代現代農業的一個大組織，包括化學農藥，先發製人的抗生素，單一種植，農場工廠化和轉基因作物。以下是一些主要環境和人類健康領域中的支持者舉例說明有機農場擊敗常規的面向：
• Fertilizers :
•化肥：
Depleted soil is a major cause of crop failures, a problem that ancient farmers often solved with organic fertilizers like animal dung, which can restore soil over time by releasing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, as well as various micronutrients. Other organic tactics for boosting soil quality include cover crops (aka "green manure"), crop rotation and composting.
土壤貧瘠是農作物歉收的主要原因，先古農民經常用有機肥料，如動物糞便來解決此類問題，它可以恢復隨著時間的推移恢復土壤，釋放氮，磷，鉀，和各種微量營養素一般好。其他提高土壤質量有機策略，包括覆蓋作物（又名“綠色肥料”），作物輪作和堆肥。
But those all involve a lot of manual labor, and by the mid-1800s chemists began finding shortcuts, like a way to make "superphosphate" from sulfuric acid and phosphate rocks, or to make ammonia from trace gases in the air and turn it into nitrogen fertilizers. Despite their short-term benefits, though, these synthetic fertilizers have also been linked to several long-term drawbacks. They're costly to make, for one, since the production of ammonia now accounts for roughly 2 percent of global energy use, and mining for phosphorus is depleting the planet's finite reserves. Overfertilization can also harm crops — as well as human babies if nitrogen seeps into their drinking water — and often triggers algae blooms and "dead zones."
但是，這些都涉及到了很多的手工勞動，由19世紀中葉開始化學家尋找捷徑，像製造“過磷酸鈣”的方法是從硫酸和磷礦石，或在空氣中的微量氣體使氨把它變成氮肥。儘管他們短期受益，但是，這些人工合成的肥料，也被認為與一些長期弊端連結。他們是昂貴的製作，例一，氨的製品目前大約佔全球能源使用的2％和磷的開採消耗地球上的有限儲量。過度使用化肥也危害農作物 - 以及人類的嬰兒，如果氮滲透到他們的飲用水 - 而且往往引發藻類大量繁殖和“死亡區域”。
• Pesticides:
• 農藥：
Plenty of pest-killing chemicals are available, but organic farms focus more on prevention than treatment. Cover crops can suppress weeds before they sprout, while crop rotation keeps plants one step ahead of diseases. Organic farmers may also grow multiple crops in one place, known as "polyculture," to capitalize on pest-repelling species. Some "trap crops" even lure and kill bugs — Japanese beetles are drawn to geraniums, for example, and a toxin in the petals paralyzes the beetles for 24 hours, usually enough time for something to kill them. But a growing demand for food drove a global shift to synthetic pesticides last century, especially once DDT and similar insecticides hit the market. Several were later banned in the U.S., though, for a problem that plagues many pesticides: persistence.
大量的殺蟲化學品被使用，但有機農場更注重預防勝於治療。覆蓋作物可以抑制雜草發芽，而植物輪作能比疾病略勝一籌。有機農民也可以在一個地方種植多種農作物，被稱為“混養”，充分利用有害物種的相斥性。一些“誘捕作物”，甚至引誘和殺滅臭蟲 – 例如:日本甲蟲被天竺葵吸引，和花瓣裡有一種毒素會癱瘓甲蟲 24小時，通常已有足夠的時間可使某物殺死他們。但是，對食物不斷增長的需求驅動全球糧食在上個世紀使用化學合成農藥，特別是一度使用的DDT和類似的殺蟲劑在市場上市。一些後來在美國被禁止，即，許多農藥被一個問題困擾著：持久性。
The longer a chemical sits outside without breaking down, the more likely it is to accumulate, drift around and even move up the food chain. Safe levels of human exposure vary widely, but on top of things like brain damage and birth defects, some have also been linked to cancer. According to one review of cancer studies from 1992 to 2003, "Most studies on non-Hodgkin lymphoma and leukemia showed positive associations with pesticide exposure," and the reviewers add that "a few were able to identify specific pesticides." People living near farms may be directly exposed to pesticides, although anyone else can be, too, just by eating a stick of celery. It tops the USDA's list of pesticide residues on food, followed by peaches, kale, strawberries and blueberries (see the interactive graphic above for more, or check out a list of the "Dirty Dozen" most pesticide-laced produce.)
化學性可一直維持在外不會損壞愈久，就越有可能積累，四處漂移，甚至往食物鏈移動。人類安全水平暴露在化學種類很廣，腦損傷和出生缺陷是最多的，有的也與癌症連結。據一位從1992到2003癌症回顧研究調查，“大多數在非何杰金氏淋巴瘤和白血病的研究顯示呈陽性與暴露在農藥接觸上有連結，”而審評補充說，“有一些具體的農藥能確定。”人民生活在農場附近可能直接接觸農藥，雖然任何人都可能，也只是吃一根芹菜就接觸。它是榮登美國農業部的名單上的農藥殘留最高的食物，其次是桃子，羽衣甘藍，草莓和藍莓（見交互式圖形上會顯示更多，或或檢視的“一打骯髒”的列表最多農藥殘留的製品。）
• Crop diversity:
• 作物多樣性：
Growing individual, isolated crops in bulk has become common for large-scale farms, but since it's an unnatural way for most plants to grow, many require extra help. Known as a monoculture, a vast field of one species is risky because all the crops are vulnerable to the same diseases and conditions, setting up disasters like the 1840s Irish Potato Famine. Farms that use polyculture, however, not only enlist crops to protect each other from pests, but can also still rely on the surviving crops if one is killed by disease. And since they have those safeguards built into their farming system, they have less need for fertilizers and pesticides. They also have less need to plant genetically modified organisms, a more recent breakthrough that has amplified the fight over modern farming.
個別生成長，在大塊面積種植單一作物在散裝大型養殖場已很常見的，但因它對大多數植物生長是一個不自然的方式，許多需要額外的幫助。所謂的單一栽種文化，廣闊的領域的一個物種是有風險的，因為所有的作物很容易相同的條件下受到疾病和災害，如1840年代的愛爾蘭馬鈴薯飢荒。然而，農場使用混養，不僅爭取農作物互相保護對方免於蟲害，如果一種作物被疾病殺害仍有可以依靠其他生存的作物。而且，由於他們的保護建成的耕作制度，他們不太需要肥料和農藥。他們還不太需要對轉基因生物植物，一個較新的突破，也放大了現代農業爭奪戰。
GMOs are often bred to be tolerant of specific pests or pesticides, but organic advocates say this creates an unnecessary dependence on pesticides. The agribusiness giant Monsanto, for example, sells Roundup herbicide as well as "Roundup-ready" crops genetically engineered to tolerate Roundup. Critics also warn of "genetic drift" from GMO pollen to wild species, and scientists in North Dakota even recently found two herbicide-resistant varieties of GM canola plants that had escaped from farms into the wild. But GMOs can sometimes help their natural neighbors, too — another recent study found that a certain kind of GM corn both protects itself from corn borer moths as well as non-GM corn planted nearby.
轉基因生物往往對特定蟲害或農藥寬容的，但有機主張說，這造成對農藥不必要的依賴。農業綜合企業巨頭孟山都，例如，銷售綜合除草劑，以及“抗農達”作物基因工程容忍綜合。批評者還警告“遺傳轉變”從轉基因花粉到野生物種，在北達科科學家他甚至最近發現了兩個抗除草劑轉基因油菜品種植物從農場逃脫到野外。但轉基因生物有時也可以幫助他們的天然鄰居- 另一個最近的一項研究發現，某一種轉基因玉米可保護自身以及附近非轉基因玉米種植免於玉米螟蛾蟲害。
• Livestock:
• 畜牧業：
People have raised animals to eat for millennia, starting with sheep and goats that nomadic tribes herded some 11,000 years ago. Cattle and pigs came next as nomads settled down on farms, and modern chickens followed a few thousand years later; turkeys took much longer to tame, finally giving in to the Aztecs around the 1300s. Farm animals were long raised outdoors in relatively low concentrations, but that changed dramatically in the 20th century. Chickens were raised in CAFOs, aka "factory farms," as early as the 1920s, and the rise of growth hormones, vaccines and antibiotics paved the way for cattle and pork CAFOs soon after.
人們飼養動物以供食用已數千年，起於約 11,000年前游牧部族放牧綿羊和山羊。游牧族群其次將牛和豬定居在農場，幾千年以後雞也跟隨在後，火雞花了更長時間，終於在14世紀左右被阿茲特克人馴服。農場動物長時間飼養在室外並不需特別照顧，但發在20世紀生了巨大變化，。雞在20世紀初期 20年代分別於集中畜牧經營，又名“工廠化農場”以注射生長激素，疫苗和抗生素被飼養而鋪設了不久後牛和豬同樣以集中式畜牧的道路。
Low-dose antibiotics are still preemptively fed to livestock at many CAFOs, since the tight conditions raise the risk of illness. But antibiotics have caused issues of their own, since overexposure can breed drug-resistant bacteria. (The FDA issued a draft guidance for industry earlier this year, urging companies to volunteer some reductions.) Manure is also a problem, since it gives off methane and can be washed away by rain, potentially poisoning rivers, lakes or even groundwater. Biotech has also become a big issue for livestock lately, and not just because of cloned cattle: The FDA is mulling a proposal, for example, to allow sales of genetically modified salmon.
養殖所遭遇的疾病風險造成緊張狀況，許多 CAFOs仍然以低劑量的抗生素餵養牲畜。但抗生素也對自身造成問題，因為過度使用培育出抗藥性的菌類。 （美國食品藥物管理局在今年較早時發布了行業的指導草案，督促企業自願減少使用。）糞便也是一個問題，因為它會散發出的甲烷也會被雨水沖走，有可能使河流，湖泊甚至地下水中毒。生物技術最近在畜牧業也成為一個大問題，並不僅僅是因為克隆牛：美國食品藥物管理局正在考慮一項提案，例如，允許銷售轉基因鮭魚。
PS: 克隆 （英語： Clone ，克隆為其音譯），又稱生物複製 ， 個體複製 （簡稱複製）等，廣義上是指利用生物技術由無性生殖產生與原個體有完全相同基因組之後代的過程。 在園藝學上，克隆是指通過營養生殖產生的單一植株的後代，很多植物都是通過克隆這樣的無性生殖方式從單一植株獲得大量的子代個體。 在生物學上，是指選擇性地複製出一段DNA序列（分子克隆）、 細胞 （細胞克隆）或是個體 （個體克隆）。
克隆一個生物體意味著創造一個與原先的生物體具有完全一樣的遺傳信息的新生物體 。(維基百科)
PS: 美國當地時間2011年6月15日，美國國會口頭表決通過了一項由議員提出的轉基因鮭魚禁令修正案，該修正案將禁止美國FDA就批準轉基因鮭魚支出費用。
•Costs of organic farming
•有機農業的成本
Critics of organic farming often focus on how much the food costs, since it usually is more expensive than conventionally grown food, due to a variety of factors such as lower yields and more labor-intensive methods. But those lower yields can do more than just raise the price of produce — some experts argue they also threaten food security at a time when global warming is already starting to wreak climatic havoc in some of the world's biggest farming regions. Below is a look at two of the main arguments made against organic farming:
批評者往往側重於有機農業的食物多少成本，因為由於各種因素，如低收益率和更多的勞動力密集的方法，它通常是比傳統方法種植的食品較昂貴的。但是，這些低收益率做的不僅僅是使農產品的價格提高 - 一些專家認為，全球變暖已造成氣候浩劫開始在一些世界上最大的農業地區肆虐，他們還在此時威脅糧食安全存量，。下面是看兩個主要反對有機農業的論據：
• Food prices:
• 食品價格：
Organic products often cost a few cents to several dollars more than their conventional counterparts, creating an expensive stigma that may hinder the U.S. organic industry from growing more quickly than it has. The USDA's Economic Research Service tracks wholesale and retail price differences between organic and conventional food, and as seen in its most recent national head-to-head comparison, the differences vary widely depending on the product: Organic carrots cost only about 39 percent more than conventional varieties, for example, while organic eggs cost nearly 200 percent more. (Prices also vary from city to city, which is why the ERS monitors price data in several benchmark areas around the country.)
有機產品往往比他們傳統方式生產製品多花費幾美分到幾美元，這創造了昂貴的恥辱，可能會阻礙美國有機行業的增長速度。美國農業部經濟研究服務追踪有機和常規食品批發和零售價格差異的，如看到最近全國性的肉搏戰，差異有很大的不同取決於產品：有機胡蘿蔔的成本大約只有比常規品種多39％，而有機雞蛋成本卻差異近200％以上。 （而各城市價格也各不相同，這就是為什麼 ERS (Economic Research Service）顯示器的價格數據在周圍地區的國家有幾個基準。）
Wholesale prices show a similar discrepancy: Conventional, wholesale eggs cost an average of $1.21 per dozen in 2008, while the organic option cost $2.61, a difference of about 115 percent. As stark as those kinds of discrepancies can seem during an economic downturn, however, they're expected to keep slowly shrinking over the years as organic farms become more widespread and streamlined, and as they receive more of the tax breaks and other benefits often given to conventional farms. "The goal is to eventually minimize the price differentiation so it becomes more narrow between conventional and organic," says National Organic Program spokeswoman Soo Kim, adding that she's seen no evidence that organic food sales are more vulnerable to a recession. "I can only base my answer on what they have demonstrated during this recession," she says, "and there was a 5 percent growth of organic food purchases in 2009, which comprised about 4 percent of sales in the U.S."
批發價格呈現了類似的差異：2008年在傳統雞蛋批發成本平均每打$1.21美元，而有機選擇的成本$是2.61美元，相差約 115％。在經濟不景氣時那些差異更加鮮明，但是，他們多年來期望有機農場變得更加普遍和效率將保持緩慢萎縮，因為他們得到更多的稅收優惠而其他福利經常是給傳統的農場。 “我們的目標是最終的價格差異最小化，以拉近傳統和有機農場之間的距離。”國家有機計劃的發言人蘇金補充說：她沒有看到任何證據表明，有機食品的銷售更容易受到經濟衰退的影響。她說“我只能就他們在這波經濟衰退中已顯示的證據來回答，“在’2009年有機食品的採購有5％的增長，其中包括在美國約 4％的銷售”
•Food availability :
• 食品可用性：
As Norman Borlaug led the Green Revolution in the mid-20th century, he was aware of the rising organic tide back home. Rachel Carson's 1962 book "Silent Spring" had spread distrust of pesticides among Americans, as did the later banning of DDT, and the new U.S. environmental movement was attacking many of the tactics pioneered by Borlaug (pictured at right in 1996). He addressed his critics several times before his death in 2009, such as in a 1997 interview with the Atlantic: "Some of the environmental lobbyists of Western nations are the salt of the earth, but many of them are elitists," Borlaug said. "They've never experienced the physical sensation of hunger. ... If they lived just one month amid the misery of the developing world, as I have for 50 years, they'd be crying out for tractors and fertilizer and irrigation canals."
在20世紀中期由於博洛格領導綠色革命，他警覺有機風的堀起回潮。瑞秋卡森1962年的著作“寂靜的春天”已經擴散美國人對農藥的不信任，就像後來禁止使用滴滴涕，而博洛格新的美國環保運動開創許多進攻戰術（如圖右，1996年）。在2009年去世前他標示談到他的批評幾次，如與大西洋在1997年的採訪：“一些西方國家的環保遊說是社會的中堅份子，但其中許多都是精英，”博洛格說。 “他們身體從來沒有經歷過飢餓感受 ... ...如果他們能在這發展中世界經歷短短一個月中的苦難，就如我承受已經 50年了，那他們就會大聲疾呼拖拉機，化肥和灌溉水渠。
Industrial farming advocates now carry this torch for Borlaug, arguing for things like the re-legalization of DDT and the wider use of GMOs, which they often tout as the only way for crops to keep up with population growth. It has been documented for years that organic farms generally produce less food per acre — in one recent comparison of organic and conventional strawberries, for example, researchers found the organic plants produced smaller and fewer fruits (although they were also denser and more nutritious). But several studies in recent years have also claimed to dispel this notion — a 2005 study found that organic farms yield the same amount of corn and soybeans as conventional ones, even while using 30 percent less energy, and another study in 2007 reported that that yields are "almost equal on organic and conventional farms," adding that organic farming could triple traditional farms' output in developing countries. "My hope," said one of the study's authors in a statement, "is that we can finally put a nail in the coffin of the idea that you can't produce enough food through organic agriculture."
現在工業農業倡導者帶著這博洛格的火炬，爭論如DDT的重新合法化和轉基因生物更廣泛地使用等此類事物，他們經常吹噓這是作物跟上人口增長的唯一途徑。據多年來的記載，一般來說有機農場每英畝生產較少的食物 - 在最近的一個比較有機和傳統方式所生產的草莓，例如，研究人員發現，有機植物生產體積更小，產量少的水果（雖然他們也更濃郁，更營養）。但近年來，一些研究也宣稱打消這個概念 - 2005年的研究發現，即使僅使用少於30％的能源，有機農場產生和傳統農場相同數量的玉米和大豆，以及另一項在2007年研究報告說，有機和常規養殖場的產量幾乎等同”，並稱在發展中國家有機農業的產值是傳統農場產量的三倍。 “我希望，”其中一個研究報告的作者在一份聲明中說：“我們終於可以將”你不能通過有機農業生產足夠的糧食這樣的一個想法”垮台。
參考資源 :
田媽媽
20110729Aircafe Break
source : mother nature network:
By Russell McLendonFri, Oct 08 2010 at 11:09 AM EST
• Benefits of organic farming
• 有機農業的好處
The organic movement began as a reaction against synthetic fertilizers, but it soon evolved into a big-tent alternative to many aspects of modern agriculture, including chemical pesticides, preemptive antibiotics, monocultures, factory farms and genetically engineered crops. Below are some of the main environmental and human health arenas in which supporters say organic farms beat conventional ones:
有機運動剛開始是反對使用人工合成肥料的一種回應，但它很快演變成在許多方面替代現代農業的一個大組織，包括化學農藥，先發製人的抗生素，單一種植，農場工廠化和轉基因作物。以下是一些主要環境和人類健康領域中的支持者舉例說明有機農場擊敗常規的面向：
• Fertilizers :
•化肥：
Depleted soil is a major cause of crop failures, a problem that ancient farmers often solved with organic fertilizers like animal dung, which can restore soil over time by releasing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, as well as various micronutrients. Other organic tactics for boosting soil quality include cover crops (aka "green manure"), crop rotation and composting.
土壤貧瘠是農作物歉收的主要原因，先古農民經常用有機肥料，如動物糞便來解決此類問題，它可以恢復隨著時間的推移恢復土壤，釋放氮，磷，鉀，和各種微量營養素一般好。其他提高土壤質量有機策略，包括覆蓋作物（又名“綠色肥料”），作物輪作和堆肥。
But those all involve a lot of manual labor, and by the mid-1800s chemists began finding shortcuts, like a way to make "superphosphate" from sulfuric acid and phosphate rocks, or to make ammonia from trace gases in the air and turn it into nitrogen fertilizers. Despite their short-term benefits, though, these synthetic fertilizers have also been linked to several long-term drawbacks. They're costly to make, for one, since the production of ammonia now accounts for roughly 2 percent of global energy use, and mining for phosphorus is depleting the planet's finite reserves. Overfertilization can also harm crops — as well as human babies if nitrogen seeps into their drinking water — and often triggers algae blooms and "dead zones."
但是，這些都涉及到了很多的手工勞動，由19世紀中葉開始化學家尋找捷徑，像製造“過磷酸鈣”的方法是從硫酸和磷礦石，或在空氣中的微量氣體使氨把它變成氮肥。儘管他們短期受益，但是，這些人工合成的肥料，也被認為與一些長期弊端連結。他們是昂貴的製作，例一，氨的製品目前大約佔全球能源使用的2％和磷的開採消耗地球上的有限儲量。過度使用化肥也危害農作物 - 以及人類的嬰兒，如果氮滲透到他們的飲用水 - 而且往往引發藻類大量繁殖和“死亡區域”。
• Pesticides:
• 農藥：
Plenty of pest-killing chemicals are available, but organic farms focus more on prevention than treatment. Cover crops can suppress weeds before they sprout, while crop rotation keeps plants one step ahead of diseases. Organic farmers may also grow multiple crops in one place, known as "polyculture," to capitalize on pest-repelling species. Some "trap crops" even lure and kill bugs — Japanese beetles are drawn to geraniums, for example, and a toxin in the petals paralyzes the beetles for 24 hours, usually enough time for something to kill them. But a growing demand for food drove a global shift to synthetic pesticides last century, especially once DDT and similar insecticides hit the market. Several were later banned in the U.S., though, for a problem that plagues many pesticides: persistence.
大量的殺蟲化學品被使用，但有機農場更注重預防勝於治療。覆蓋作物可以抑制雜草發芽，而植物輪作能比疾病略勝一籌。有機農民也可以在一個地方種植多種農作物，被稱為“混養”，充分利用有害物種的相斥性。一些“誘捕作物”，甚至引誘和殺滅臭蟲 – 例如:日本甲蟲被天竺葵吸引，和花瓣裡有一種毒素會癱瘓甲蟲 24小時，通常已有足夠的時間可使某物殺死他們。但是，對食物不斷增長的需求驅動全球糧食在上個世紀使用化學合成農藥，特別是一度使用的DDT和類似的殺蟲劑在市場上市。一些後來在美國被禁止，即，許多農藥被一個問題困擾著：持久性。
The longer a chemical sits outside without breaking down, the more likely it is to accumulate, drift around and even move up the food chain. Safe levels of human exposure vary widely, but on top of things like brain damage and birth defects, some have also been linked to cancer. According to one review of cancer studies from 1992 to 2003, "Most studies on non-Hodgkin lymphoma and leukemia showed positive associations with pesticide exposure," and the reviewers add that "a few were able to identify specific pesticides." People living near farms may be directly exposed to pesticides, although anyone else can be, too, just by eating a stick of celery. It tops the USDA's list of pesticide residues on food, followed by peaches, kale, strawberries and blueberries (see the interactive graphic above for more, or check out a list of the "Dirty Dozen" most pesticide-laced produce.)
化學性可一直維持在外不會損壞愈久，就越有可能積累，四處漂移，甚至往食物鏈移動。人類安全水平暴露在化學種類很廣，腦損傷和出生缺陷是最多的，有的也與癌症連結。據一位從1992到2003癌症回顧研究調查，“大多數在非何杰金氏淋巴瘤和白血病的研究顯示呈陽性與暴露在農藥接觸上有連結，”而審評補充說，“有一些具體的農藥能確定。”人民生活在農場附近可能直接接觸農藥，雖然任何人都可能，也只是吃一根芹菜就接觸。它是榮登美國農業部的名單上的農藥殘留最高的食物，其次是桃子，羽衣甘藍，草莓和藍莓（見交互式圖形上會顯示更多，或或檢視的“一打骯髒”的列表最多農藥殘留的製品。）
• Crop diversity:
• 作物多樣性：
Growing individual, isolated crops in bulk has become common for large-scale farms, but since it's an unnatural way for most plants to grow, many require extra help. Known as a monoculture, a vast field of one species is risky because all the crops are vulnerable to the same diseases and conditions, setting up disasters like the 1840s Irish Potato Famine. Farms that use polyculture, however, not only enlist crops to protect each other from pests, but can also still rely on the surviving crops if one is killed by disease. And since they have those safeguards built into their farming system, they have less need for fertilizers and pesticides. They also have less need to plant genetically modified organisms, a more recent breakthrough that has amplified the fight over modern farming.
個別生成長，在大塊面積種植單一作物在散裝大型養殖場已很常見的，但因它對大多數植物生長是一個不自然的方式，許多需要額外的幫助。所謂的單一栽種文化，廣闊的領域的一個物種是有風險的，因為所有的作物很容易相同的條件下受到疾病和災害，如1840年代的愛爾蘭馬鈴薯飢荒。然而，農場使用混養，不僅爭取農作物互相保護對方免於蟲害，如果一種作物被疾病殺害仍有可以依靠其他生存的作物。而且，由於他們的保護建成的耕作制度，他們不太需要肥料和農藥。他們還不太需要對轉基因生物植物，一個較新的突破，也放大了現代農業爭奪戰。
GMOs are often bred to be tolerant of specific pests or pesticides, but organic advocates say this creates an unnecessary dependence on pesticides. The agribusiness giant Monsanto, for example, sells Roundup herbicide as well as "Roundup-ready" crops genetically engineered to tolerate Roundup. Critics also warn of "genetic drift" from GMO pollen to wild species, and scientists in North Dakota even recently found two herbicide-resistant varieties of GM canola plants that had escaped from farms into the wild. But GMOs can sometimes help their natural neighbors, too — another recent study found that a certain kind of GM corn both protects itself from corn borer moths as well as non-GM corn planted nearby.
轉基因生物往往對特定蟲害或農藥寬容的，但有機主張說，這造成對農藥不必要的依賴。農業綜合企業巨頭孟山都，例如，銷售綜合除草劑，以及“抗農達”作物基因工程容忍綜合。批評者還警告“遺傳轉變”從轉基因花粉到野生物種，在北達科科學家他甚至最近發現了兩個抗除草劑轉基因油菜品種植物從農場逃脫到野外。但轉基因生物有時也可以幫助他們的天然鄰居- 另一個最近的一項研究發現，某一種轉基因玉米可保護自身以及附近非轉基因玉米種植免於玉米螟蛾蟲害。
• Livestock:
• 畜牧業：
People have raised animals to eat for millennia, starting with sheep and goats that nomadic tribes herded some 11,000 years ago. Cattle and pigs came next as nomads settled down on farms, and modern chickens followed a few thousand years later; turkeys took much longer to tame, finally giving in to the Aztecs around the 1300s. Farm animals were long raised outdoors in relatively low concentrations, but that changed dramatically in the 20th century. Chickens were raised in CAFOs, aka "factory farms," as early as the 1920s, and the rise of growth hormones, vaccines and antibiotics paved the way for cattle and pork CAFOs soon after.
人們飼養動物以供食用已數千年，起於約 11,000年前游牧部族放牧綿羊和山羊。游牧族群其次將牛和豬定居在農場，幾千年以後雞也跟隨在後，火雞花了更長時間，終於在14世紀左右被阿茲特克人馴服。農場動物長時間飼養在室外並不需特別照顧，但發在20世紀生了巨大變化，。雞在20世紀初期 20年代分別於集中畜牧經營，又名“工廠化農場”以注射生長激素，疫苗和抗生素被飼養而鋪設了不久後牛和豬同樣以集中式畜牧的道路。
Low-dose antibiotics are still preemptively fed to livestock at many CAFOs, since the tight conditions raise the risk of illness. But antibiotics have caused issues of their own, since overexposure can breed drug-resistant bacteria. (The FDA issued a draft guidance for industry earlier this year, urging companies to volunteer some reductions.) Manure is also a problem, since it gives off methane and can be washed away by rain, potentially poisoning rivers, lakes or even groundwater. Biotech has also become a big issue for livestock lately, and not just because of cloned cattle: The FDA is mulling a proposal, for example, to allow sales of genetically modified salmon.
養殖所遭遇的疾病風險造成緊張狀況，許多 CAFOs仍然以低劑量的抗生素餵養牲畜。但抗生素也對自身造成問題，因為過度使用培育出抗藥性的菌類。 （美國食品藥物管理局在今年較早時發布了行業的指導草案，督促企業自願減少使用。）糞便也是一個問題，因為它會散發出的甲烷也會被雨水沖走，有可能使河流，湖泊甚至地下水中毒。生物技術最近在畜牧業也成為一個大問題，並不僅僅是因為克隆牛：美國食品藥物管理局正在考慮一項提案，例如，允許銷售轉基因鮭魚。
PS: 克隆 （英語： Clone ，克隆為其音譯），又稱生物複製 ， 個體複製 （簡稱複製）等，廣義上是指利用生物技術由無性生殖產生與原個體有完全相同基因組之後代的過程。 在園藝學上，克隆是指通過營養生殖產生的單一植株的後代，很多植物都是通過克隆這樣的無性生殖方式從單一植株獲得大量的子代個體。 在生物學上，是指選擇性地複製出一段DNA序列（分子克隆）、 細胞 （細胞克隆）或是個體 （個體克隆）。
克隆一個生物體意味著創造一個與原先的生物體具有完全一樣的遺傳信息的新生物體 。(維基百科)
PS: 美國當地時間2011年6月15日，美國國會口頭表決通過了一項由議員提出的轉基因鮭魚禁令修正案，該修正案將禁止美國FDA就批準轉基因鮭魚支出費用。
•Costs of organic farming
•有機農業的成本
Critics of organic farming often focus on how much the food costs, since it usually is more expensive than conventionally grown food, due to a variety of factors such as lower yields and more labor-intensive methods. But those lower yields can do more than just raise the price of produce — some experts argue they also threaten food security at a time when global warming is already starting to wreak climatic havoc in some of the world's biggest farming regions. Below is a look at two of the main arguments made against organic farming:
批評者往往側重於有機農業的食物多少成本，因為由於各種因素，如低收益率和更多的勞動力密集的方法，它通常是比傳統方法種植的食品較昂貴的。但是，這些低收益率做的不僅僅是使農產品的價格提高 - 一些專家認為，全球變暖已造成氣候浩劫開始在一些世界上最大的農業地區肆虐，他們還在此時威脅糧食安全存量，。下面是看兩個主要反對有機農業的論據：
• Food prices:
• 食品價格：
Organic products often cost a few cents to several dollars more than their conventional counterparts, creating an expensive stigma that may hinder the U.S. organic industry from growing more quickly than it has. The USDA's Economic Research Service tracks wholesale and retail price differences between organic and conventional food, and as seen in its most recent national head-to-head comparison, the differences vary widely depending on the product: Organic carrots cost only about 39 percent more than conventional varieties, for example, while organic eggs cost nearly 200 percent more. (Prices also vary from city to city, which is why the ERS monitors price data in several benchmark areas around the country.)
有機產品往往比他們傳統方式生產製品多花費幾美分到幾美元，這創造了昂貴的恥辱，可能會阻礙美國有機行業的增長速度。美國農業部經濟研究服務追踪有機和常規食品批發和零售價格差異的，如看到最近全國性的肉搏戰，差異有很大的不同取決於產品：有機胡蘿蔔的成本大約只有比常規品種多39％，而有機雞蛋成本卻差異近200％以上。 （而各城市價格也各不相同，這就是為什麼 ERS (Economic Research Service）顯示器的價格數據在周圍地區的國家有幾個基準。）
Wholesale prices show a similar discrepancy: Conventional, wholesale eggs cost an average of $1.21 per dozen in 2008, while the organic option cost $2.61, a difference of about 115 percent. As stark as those kinds of discrepancies can seem during an economic downturn, however, they're expected to keep slowly shrinking over the years as organic farms become more widespread and streamlined, and as they receive more of the tax breaks and other benefits often given to conventional farms. "The goal is to eventually minimize the price differentiation so it becomes more narrow between conventional and organic," says National Organic Program spokeswoman Soo Kim, adding that she's seen no evidence that organic food sales are more vulnerable to a recession. "I can only base my answer on what they have demonstrated during this recession," she says, "and there was a 5 percent growth of organic food purchases in 2009, which comprised about 4 percent of sales in the U.S."
批發價格呈現了類似的差異：2008年在傳統雞蛋批發成本平均每打$1.21美元，而有機選擇的成本$是2.61美元，相差約 115％。在經濟不景氣時那些差異更加鮮明，但是，他們多年來期望有機農場變得更加普遍和效率將保持緩慢萎縮，因為他們得到更多的稅收優惠而其他福利經常是給傳統的農場。 “我們的目標是最終的價格差異最小化，以拉近傳統和有機農場之間的距離。”國家有機計劃的發言人蘇金補充說：她沒有看到任何證據表明，有機食品的銷售更容易受到經濟衰退的影響。她說“我只能就他們在這波經濟衰退中已顯示的證據來回答，“在’2009年有機食品的採購有5％的增長，其中包括在美國約 4％的銷售”
•Food availability :
• 食品可用性：
As Norman Borlaug led the Green Revolution in the mid-20th century, he was aware of the rising organic tide back home. Rachel Carson's 1962 book "Silent Spring" had spread distrust of pesticides among Americans, as did the later banning of DDT, and the new U.S. environmental movement was attacking many of the tactics pioneered by Borlaug (pictured at right in 1996). He addressed his critics several times before his death in 2009, such as in a 1997 interview with the Atlantic: "Some of the environmental lobbyists of Western nations are the salt of the earth, but many of them are elitists," Borlaug said. "They've never experienced the physical sensation of hunger. ... If they lived just one month amid the misery of the developing world, as I have for 50 years, they'd be crying out for tractors and fertilizer and irrigation canals."
在20世紀中期由於博洛格領導綠色革命，他警覺有機風的堀起回潮。瑞秋卡森1962年的著作“寂靜的春天”已經擴散美國人對農藥的不信任，就像後來禁止使用滴滴涕，而博洛格新的美國環保運動開創許多進攻戰術（如圖右，1996年）。在2009年去世前他標示談到他的批評幾次，如與大西洋在1997年的採訪：“一些西方國家的環保遊說是社會的中堅份子，但其中許多都是精英，”博洛格說。 “他們身體從來沒有經歷過飢餓感受 ... ...如果他們能在這發展中世界經歷短短一個月中的苦難，就如我承受已經 50年了，那他們就會大聲疾呼拖拉機，化肥和灌溉水渠。
Industrial farming advocates now carry this torch for Borlaug, arguing for things like the re-legalization of DDT and the wider use of GMOs, which they often tout as the only way for crops to keep up with population growth. It has been documented for years that organic farms generally produce less food per acre — in one recent comparison of organic and conventional strawberries, for example, researchers found the organic plants produced smaller and fewer fruits (although they were also denser and more nutritious). But several studies in recent years have also claimed to dispel this notion — a 2005 study found that organic farms yield the same amount of corn and soybeans as conventional ones, even while using 30 percent less energy, and another study in 2007 reported that that yields are "almost equal on organic and conventional farms," adding that organic farming could triple traditional farms' output in developing countries. "My hope," said one of the study's authors in a statement, "is that we can finally put a nail in the coffin of the idea that you can't produce enough food through organic agriculture."
現在工業農業倡導者帶著這博洛格的火炬，爭論如DDT的重新合法化和轉基因生物更廣泛地使用等此類事物，他們經常吹噓這是作物跟上人口增長的唯一途徑。據多年來的記載，一般來說有機農場每英畝生產較少的食物 - 在最近的一個比較有機和傳統方式所生產的草莓，例如，研究人員發現，有機植物生產體積更小，產量少的水果（雖然他們也更濃郁，更營養）。但近年來，一些研究也宣稱打消這個概念 - 2005年的研究發現，即使僅使用少於30％的能源，有機農場產生和傳統農場相同數量的玉米和大豆，以及另一項在2007年研究報告說，有機和常規養殖場的產量幾乎等同”，並稱在發展中國家有機農業的產值是傳統農場產量的三倍。 “我希望，”其中一個研究報告的作者在一份聲明中說：“我們終於可以將”你不能通過有機農業生產足夠的糧食這樣的一個想法”垮台。
參考資源 :
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