THE GOLDEN HOOF AND GREEN MANURE - MEAT: A Benign Extravagance - page 103

pattern of civilization that one might usefully call Sino-Luddite, they were banned? Would
the world's population have expanded as it did in Europe in the 14th century? Would it have
encroached upon grazing land and suffered declining yields, until humanity succumbed to
a global demographic catastrophe analogous to the Black Death?
Perhaps; but it is not beyond the realms of possibility that the world might have pursued
an entirely different course, through which population growth was relatively restrained (as
it was for example in the 17th century in England, or the 18th century in China) while sci-
entists and innovators concentrated their research upon breeding better varieties, improving
the performance of nitrogen fixing crops, and finding better ways of making complex agri-
cultural ecosystems function productively.
In this context, the main charge levelled at the agrochemical establishment by the organic
movement is that virtually all funding for research has been pumped into fossil fuel
powered agriculture, and that is the main reason why organic yields have so often lagged
behind the yields from chemical farming. The watermill wasn't developed until 1,000 years
after it was invented, because slaves could do the job cheaper. 39 How many potential agri-
cultural improvements are there which have remained ignored because they can't compete
with fossil fuels?
A notable example is the huge discrepancy between conventional UK wheat yields of
around eight tonnes per hectare, which are dependent upon high applications of synthetic
nitrogen, and average yields of organic wheat which are little more than half as much.
Martin Wolfe, of Elm Farm Research Station, has drawn attention to the curious fact that
the same does not hold for other grains:
In 2000, six modern wheat varieties yielded, on average, 10 tonnes per hectare across national trials under
standard non-organic conditions. When these varieties were grown organically the yield fell to less than 4 tonnes
per hectare. Oat and triticale varieties under the non-organic conditions yielded, respectively, 8.2 and 6.5 tonnes
per hectare. However the same varieties grown organically yielded, respectively, 7.1 and 6.7 tonnes per hectare.
Why should there be such a discrepancy between wheat on the one hand, and oats and triticale on the other?
The main reason is that wheats bred for non-organic production are short-strawed with an open canopy, so that
they compete less well with weeds than the taller, denser oats and triticales. There is a similar contrast in disease
resistance. Modern wheat varieties, adapted to utilizing synthetic fertilizer inputs, may also have lost some ability
to interact with soil for their required nutrition, relative to older varieties. There is an urgent need, therefore, to
breed organic wheat. 40
Over recent years commentators such as Jules Pretty, Mae-Wan Ho, Lim Li Ching and
others have reported impressive improvements in yields in Third World agriculture through
the introduction (or reintroduction) of organic techniques such as intercropping, green ma-
nuring, animal composting, introducing ducks into paddy fields to keep down weeds and
pests and provide fertilizer, or interplanting crops with prolific legumes such as the velvet
bean tree, Mucuna pruriens .