b"organic farming permits the use of natural pesticides that avoidhas not finished this debate over gene-edited crops, and there using man-made chemicals at all costs. Additionally, beforeare large groups of farmers that support the use of gene editing.using any pesticides manufactured by humans, farmers mustWhat exacerbates the situation is that organic farmers reg-first try other non-chemical pest management techniques. ularly use older and so-called heirloom varieties which are miss-In organic farming, pesticides are utilized, but they comeing the necessary genetic resistances against pests and diseases, from natural sources rather than synthetically manufacturedrequiring them to use even more pest control measures. ones. Furthermore, even if natural pesticides certainly sound better, it all comes down to how much of a particular ingredientMYTH: ORGANIC FARMING CAN FEED THE you're consuming. For instance, organic farming employs theWORLDusage of a copper derivative as a fungicide. It can be dangerousFACT:Organic farming would need about 40 per cent more land if consumed in the wrong amounts. However, neither organicarea to produce the same amount of food as conventional agricul-nor synthetic pesticides present any health risks when presenttural methods. Up to 80 per cent more land will be needed in the in the quantities found on food and in the proportions, we con- future to be able to feed the expanding global population utiliz-sume them. ing just organic farming techniques. To guarantee that there will be enough arable land for agriculture, enormous, wooded areas MYTH: ORGANIC FOODS ARE LESS DANGEROUSwould also need to be cleared. The remaining needed land area THAN GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS would have to be provided by clearing moors, woods, and con-FACT:Comparing organic farming to genetically modified organ- servation zones. The biodiversity would be under a lot of stress isms is akin to comparing apples and oranges. Additionally, someas a result. In light of climate change, expanding the amount of would say that GMOs are safer than organics because organicarable land is not a viable solution.growers are permitted to use specific pesticides, some of whichAdditionally, it is not resource are highly toxic. An example would be a GM potato that is resist- efficient to use more energy, labour, ant to blight and does not require natural pesticides likeand raw materials to cultivate copper sulphate or other fungicides that are frequentlycrops without also improving used in organic farming to manage that disease. In anthe yield. Farmers' revenues ideal world, genetic engineering would help organicwould be declining because farming. of crop losses, while con-Unfortunately, in 2018, the organic sectorsumer prices would increase. took an opposing position towards gene-ed- Additionally, going down ited crops. At that time, the Internationalthis road would harm the Federation of Organic Agriculturalenvironment and interfere Movements (IFOAM) said, in a paper,with the climate. Productive that new genetic engineering tech- and resource-efficient farm-nologies are not compatible withing techniques are essential to organic farming and must not beprovide the expanding global used in organic breeding or organicpopulation with wholesome production. But the organic sectorfood. EUROPEAN-SEED.COMIEUROPEAN SEED I 27"