Question: Do you go organic or are pesticides the way to go?

Iain Moal answered on 21 Jun 2010:

I occasionally buy organic, but I think it is overrated. Everyone goes on about the good side of organic food, and of coarse there is a good side, but people tend to ignore the bad side of organic food. Farms have to use more land to grow the same amount of crops as they would if they used pesticides, so organic farming can eat into the countryside and destroy habitat. Some organic foods have been shown to be less nutritious than their non-organic counterparts. On the global scale, there isn’t enough farmland for everyone to eat only organic food. There will be about 9 billion people on this planet by the time we reach 2050 and unless we want them to starve, we won’t have any option but to use whatever we can to increase crop yields. Unfortunately, this might mean using genetically modified crops or pesticides. Managed properly, however, I don’t think this will have too bad an effect on the environment.

So, in short, organic food is fine for rich people who can afford it, but it isn’t the way to go for the future.