EcoWarriorMe

I'd like to think that it can, but I have often wondered wether organic agriculture could feed everyone or whether we need more intensive agriculture. There are many environmental benefits to organic methods including reduced use of herbicides and pesticides such as neonicotinoids which are implicated in the decline of bee numbers. Another benefit is the greater diversity of vegetable varieties also associated with organic farming. This is for two reasons: to use varieties with greater natural resistance to pests and to use more flavoursome varieties to differentiate from non-organic produce.  A recent study of studies of yield from organic methods compared with so-called conventional methods has recently been published in Nature and reported here by the BBC. From the BBC report: The headline conclusion is pretty unequivocal; across the board, organic farming produces lower yields than conventional methods, by about 25%. For fruit, the difference is marginal, just a few percen...

Biofuels could provide 27% of transport fuels by 2050, says IEA | Energy Efficiency News : "Biofuels could provide 27% of transport fuels by 2050, says IEA Biofuels produced from biomass could provide up to 27% of global transport fuels by 2050, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA)." The report, Biofuels for Transport, indicates that sustainable biofuel consumption – using only biofuels that bring life cycle environmental benefits without compromising food security – could increase from 55 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) now to 750 Mtoe in 2050. The switch to biofuels would, by 2050, provide one fifth of emission reductions in the transport sector – equivalent to 2.1 gigatonnes of CO2. “While vehicle efficiency will be the most important and most cost-efficient way to reduce transport-emissions, biofuels will still be needed to provide low-carbon fuel alternatives for planes, marine vessels and other heavy transport modes,” says Bo D...