有机食品果真贵的有道理.doc

有机食品果真贵的有道理？译者：nickle发表时间：2011-01-21浏览量：2066评论数：3挑错数：0美国有机农业在过去的20年里发展迅猛，但是随着食物需求的增长、消费者缩减开支，绿色作物还会一支独秀么？Is organic food worth the cost?有机食品果真贵的有道理？U.S. organic farming has grown wildly for the last two decades, but with food demand rising and cash-strapped shoppers pinching pennies, are greener acres still the place to be?美国有机农业在过去的20年里发展迅猛，但是随着食物需求的增长、消费者缩减开支，绿色作物还会一支独秀么？By Russell McLendonFri, Oct 08 2010 at 10:09 AM EST罗素-麦克伦登，作于2010年10月8日The phrase organic farming was coined in 1940 by Lord Northbourne, a British author and Olympic athlete who helped launch the organic movement. Joined by fellow organic pioneers like J.I. Rodale, Lady Eve Balfour and Albert Howard, he championed farms as natural ecosystems, and railed against chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The farm itself must have a biological completeness, he wrote. It must be a living entity . which has within itself a balanced organic life.“有机农业”的称谓起源于1940年，当时的英国作家兼奥林匹克运动员诺斯伯纳勋爵协助发起了这项活动。同J.I.罗代尔、伊娃-巴尔福女士、阿尔伯特-霍华德等有机发烧友们一起，诺斯伯纳勋爵将农田视为天然的生态系统，反对使用化学肥料和农药。他如是写道，“农田本身必定有一整条生物链，必定是一个存活着的整体在它内部存在着均衡的有机生命。”While those words still resonate with many farmers and shoppers today, however, they were drowned out for decades by famine. Earths human population grew 293 percent in the 20th century compared with an average of 22 percent each of the previous nine centuries and farmers couldnt keep up. As hunger spread, an Iowa agronomist named Norman Borlaug came to the rescue in the early 40s, using manmade pesticides, fertilizers and crossbred crops to start the Green Revolution, which saved countless lives and won him the 1970 Nobel Prize.时至今日仍有很多农场主、消费者们热衷于这些有机食物，然而数十年来它们逐渐被一场场饥荒所淹没。20世纪地球的人类数量增长了293%，此前的9个世纪平均仅为22%，农民数量显然跟不上总人口的增长。40年代初期，饥荒大肆扩散，爱荷华州的一位农学家诺曼-博拉格提倡使用人造农药、肥料和杂交作物来阻止饥馑恶化，由此引出了绿色革命的发端，从而解救了不计其数的生命，诺曼-博拉格也因此获得了1970年的诺贝尔奖。It also highlighted a common critique of organic farming: Its already hard to feed billions of people, even without rules against spraying chemicals or swapping genes. Borlaugs methods often raised yields while reducing acreage, and it seemed for years hed proven the organic movement wrong.这也强调了关于有机农业的一个普遍的观点即便是对喷洒化肥或者采用基因物种不加任何限制，要养活数十亿人口已属不易。博拉格的方法能有效提升产量，却降低了可耕地面积，而且看起来他要证明有机农业的做法是错误的还需要数年时间。But chemical farming, as Lord Northbourne called it, lost some luster when synthetic pesticides and fertilizers were linked to environmental ills like cancer, blue baby syndrome, dying eagles and dead zones. Ecologists warned of gene pollution from genetically modified organisms, and overuse of livestock antibiotics was widely blamed for drug-resistant superbugs. This created an opening for organic farming in the late 20th century, and today there are an estimated 1.4 million organic farms worldwide, including some 13,000 certified in the U.S. Yet despite these gains, organic farms still struggle to match the output of conventional ones no small detail since there are now about 6.9 billion people on Earth, three times the 1940 population. And with that number forecast to hit 9 billion by 2050, the future of organic farming remains unclear.但是当合成农药、化肥逐渐被认为与环境疾病（如癌症、蓝婴综合症、濒死的鹰群、死区等）有关时，被诺斯伯纳勋爵称之为“化学农业”的做法便失去了许多拥趸的支持。生态学家们警告称，具有强烈耐药性的“超级臭虫”主要源自于基因改良物种的基因污染、禽畜饲养滥用抗生素。这就为有机农业在20世纪末创造了良好的开端，目前据估计全世界有140万个有机农场，其中美国就有13000家经认证的有机农场。但是尽管有如此大的进展，有机农业还是需要努力达到传统农业的产出水平，要知道今天全世界共有69亿人，是1940年人口的三倍。这个数据将在2050年达到90亿人口，有机农业的前景依然不容乐观。ZUMA新闻社：作物喷洒飞机飞过农田It often seems especially murky during economic dips like the recent recession, when higher-priced products of all kinds tend to suffer. But does organic foods premium price translate into any real health or environmental benefits? Critics like Alex Avery dont think so the conservative author and researcher has compared organic-food fanatics to the terrorist group Hezbollah, and wrote a book in 2006 called The Truth About Organic Foods that, according to his website, strips bare organic myths. While supporters say organic farming merely reveals the true cost of food, Avery and other critics say it makes food unaffordable. Aside from supporting synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, theyve focused their ire lately on critics of genetically modified organisms. For nearly a decade these agri-extremists have attempted to totally block agricultural biotechnology, Avery wrote in 2003, calling GMOs the most important and critically needed agricultural advance in human history.通常认为像最近的经济衰退阶段，几乎所有价格较高的产品都将承受着前景暗淡的压力。那么有机食品的高端价格可否带来任何一些身体健康或者环境改善？阿列克斯-埃弗瑞等评论家并不以为然。这位保守的作者兼研究者将“有机食物狂热分子”比作恐怖组织“真主党”，其于2006年出版了一本书，叫有机食物的真相，套用他网站上的话，即“剥去有机食物的种种迷思”。尽管支持者们称有机农业仅仅是披露了食物的真实成本，埃弗瑞和其他评论家们则指出它（有机农业）让食物过于昂贵、难以承担。除了支持化学合成农药和化肥之外，他们最近在评论基因改良有机作物时表示了不满。埃弗瑞2003年写到，“将近10年里，这些农业极端主义分子尝试着彻底阻止农业生物技术的发展”，他将基因改良有机作物称赞为“人类历史上最重要、也是最需要的农业进展”。For more on the backstory, upsides and downsides of organic farming, below is a look at how the field has evolved over the last 70 years, and what might happen next.欲知有机农业的前世今生、曲折轮回，且看下文对70多年里土地演化的过程以及接下来将会发生的事情作一解读。A brief history of organic farming一、有机农业简史Early farmers had no choice but organic farming, and they still achieved some major milestones over the years, like taming the first grains in Mesopotamia or turning a thin grass called teosinte into plump, protein-packed corn.SnapsterMax/Flickr：文森特，伍德斯托克的农场木屋早期的农民是不得不采用有机农业的，数年里他们还是创造了若干个农业里程碑事件的，譬如在美索不达米亚培育了第一批作物种子，又如将贫瘠的墨西哥蜀黍野草改良成产量大、富含蛋白质的玉米良种。Agriculture has stayed largely organic for most of its 10,000-year history, from the first Fertile Crescent plots to the plantations of colonial America. Some plants would control pests and soil quality naturally, and humans helped by rotating their crops; if extra fertilizer was needed, manure usually filled in. But some farmers used toxic additives as early as 4,500 years ago, when Sumerians dusted crops with sulphur to kill insects. Within a few centuries, the Chinese were killing lice with heavy metals like arsenic and mercury, a strategy later applied to crop pests.自北美殖民地第一块新月沃土被开垦以来，在农业一万年的历史中大部分时间都是保持着有机特色的。一些作物本身就具备防治病虫害、保持土壤肥力的功效，人类辅以轮种；即便需要添加一些肥料，大多用的是人畜粪便。然而早在约4500年以前，也有农民使用有毒的添加剂，苏美尔人便将硫磺撒在作物表面以杀死虫子。中国人在几个世纪里一直保留着用砷、汞等重金属杀死虱子的传统做法，后来该法被应用于作物病虫害的杀灭。Arsenic remained king of bug killers from medieval times up to the mid-1900s, when science found something more effective. DDT had been created in 1874, but it was overlooked as an insecticide until 1939, when Swiss chemist Paul Mller made a world-changing discovery that won him a Nobel Prize. German chemists had already invented a process by then for synthesizing ammonia to make nitrogen fertilizers, for which they also won Nobel Prizes. Borlaug then mixed these and other modern tactics to fight famines in Mexico, India and the Philippines, securing his own place in history.中古时期至20世纪中期，在科学家们找到更有效的方法之前，砷一直是杀死臭虫的王牌。滴滴涕（DDT）于1874年被发明，但是直到1939年瑞士化学家鲍尔-穆勒批露了足够撼动世界的发现后才被意识到能用作杀虫剂。鲍尔-穆勒因此获得了诺贝尔奖。Meanwhile, a rival revolution still simmered below the surface, advocating ancient tools like compost and cover crops. It was led in the U.S. by magazine magnate and Rodale Institute founder J.I. Rodale, who popularized organic farming in the 1960s and 70s as environmental attitudes were already in flux. When Congress officially defined organic in 1990 and set up national certification rules, it quickly triggered an organic bonanza. USDA-certified acreage grew by an average 16 percent a year from 2000 to 2008, and still grew 5 percent in 2009 even amid the recession, points out U.S. National Organic Program spokeswoman Soo Kim. Im no forecaster, she says, but Id have to say theres a strong demand for it, and I would expect that to continue.与此同时，一场针锋相对的革命暗流涌动，他们追求像堆肥、肥田作物那样的古时耕作方法。美国杂志巨头、罗代尔研究中心奠基人J.I.罗代尔引领了这场革命，他曾在20世纪60年代和70年代初期环境责任已然形成气候的大背景下，将有机农业推向大众并获得较高的认可。1990年国会官方明确了“有机（农业）”的内涵并设立了国家认证规则之后，有机农业迅猛发展，俨然形成了一个蕴含巨大潜力的行业。美国国家有机认证计划发言人金秀指出，经美国农业部认证的有机农田数目在2000到2008年年均增长16%，即便是处于衰退时期的2009年也保持了5%的增长率。她说，“我不是一位预言家，但是我得说有机认证还有很强大的需求，我期待着它继续增长。”What does organic mean?ZUMA新闻社：超级市场里的有机食品专柜二、“有机”是什么？Organic farming suffered an identity crisis until the late 20th century, but today the term is regulated by governments and independent certifiers around the world. The National Organic Program handles organic issues in the U.S., a duty it was given by the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990. It defines organic farming as any qualified system thats designed to respond to site-specific conditions by integrating cultural, biological and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance and conserve biodiversity. The NOP website has details, including a list of allowed and prohibited substances, an archive of organic regulations, and a guide to accredited certifying agents. For casual grocery shopping, though, keep these four tips in mind when checking food labels:20世纪末以前，“有机农业”饱受身份识别问题的困扰，但是现在这个说法已经被世界上众多的政府机关以及独立的认证机构所认可并处于其监管之下。美国国家有机认证计划（NOP）根据1990年颁布的有机食物生产法令授权来处理美国国内的有机（认证）事务。根据该法令的定义，任何经过资格认证的，着眼于文化的、生物的、机械的等层面，根据实际情形采取行动，有助于加强资源循环利用、促进生态平衡、保护生物多样性的实践活动等所处的系统，都称作有机农业。国家有机认证计划（NOP）网站载有详细的文件，包括准许使用和禁止使用的物质清单、有机监管的文件库以及认可的认证机构指南。然而，购买普通食品看标签时要注意以下四点：Products labeled 100 percent organic must contain only organically produced ingredients and processing aids (aside from water and salt).1）凡产品上标明“百分之百有机”的，必须仅含有机材料和加工辅料（水和食盐除外）；Products labeled organic must contain at least 95 percent organically produced ingredients (again, not including water and salt).2）凡产品上标明“有机”的，有机材料所占比例不得低于95%（同上，不包括水和食盐）；Products labeled made with organic ingredients must contain at least 70 percent organic ingredients, and may list up to three on the main label.3）凡产品上标明“由有机材料制作”的，有机材料所占比例不得低于70%，可能在标签上列出至多三种有机材料；Nothing with less than 70 percent organic ingredients can say organic on its main label, but it can identify organic ingredients on its info panel.4）凡是有机材料所占比例低于70%的，不得在主标签上标明“有机”字样，但是可以在信息牌上明确其所含的有机材料。ZUMA新闻社：软饮料包装上的美国农业部颁发的有机标签When the USDA catches someone pitching unqualified products as organic, it can issue a fine the agency may levy a civil penalty up to $11,000 against anyone who knowingly sells or labels an organic product that doesnt meet NOP rules. But many similar marketing phrases like free range, sustainably harvested, or no drugs or growth hormones used are often defined less specifically. For example, to call chickens free range, a company must demonstrate to the Agency that the poultry has been allowed access to the outside, according to USDA regulations.一旦查出某人将未经认证的产品当做有机产品出售时，美国农业部可处以罚金。任何人明知产品未达到国家有机认证计划（NOP）的规定却依然当做有机产品出售时，美国农业部对此人最高可罚款1.1万美元。但是诸如“散养”、“永续收获”、“未使用药物或者生长激素”等许多类似的营销术语的定义就显得笼统了。譬如，根据美国农业部的规定，为出售“散养”的鸡，公司必须向认证机构证明这些鸡能够自由到鸡圈外面活动。Benefits of organic farming三、有机农业的益处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:有机运动的发起最初是应对化学合成肥料的大量使用，但是很快就演变成一场大变革，让现代农业的许多方面发生了深刻的变化，包括化学杀虫剂、预防性抗生素、单一种植、流水线农场、基因改良的作物等。在下面所列的领域里，如果考虑对环境和人类健康有利因素的话，有机农业打败了传统农业： Fertilizers: 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. 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. Theyre 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 planets 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.1）肥料：作物收成不好的一个主要原因是土地贫瘠。先前的农民们通常施以动物粪便等有机肥料，可以缓慢地释放氮、磷、钾营养元素及许多微量元素，从而解决肥力不足的问题。其他增大土壤肥力的策略包括作物肥田（亦作“绿肥”）、轮种和堆肥。但是这些都需要大量的劳力，况且十九世纪中期化学家们找到了捷径用硫酸和磷酸盐矿石反应生成过磷酸盐、利用空气中的微量气体生产氨气然后转化成氮肥等。短期这些做法是很有效的，但是长远来看，这些化学合成肥料产生了一些弊端。首先，这些肥料的生产成本高，要知道合成氨的生产过程所使用的能量占世界全部消耗的2%，含磷矿石的开采正在日益加剧地球上有限资源储量的衰竭。就像小孩子的饮用水里渗进了氮气一样，过度施肥也让作物深受其害，经常引发水华、形成“死区”。美国环境保护署：草坪撒肥机 Pesticides: 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. 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 USDAs 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.)2）农药：现如今有很多的化学药剂可用于杀灭虫害，但是有机农业更加注重预防，而不是治理虫害。作物肥田可以抑制杂草发芽，而轮作则可以让作物预先避免病害。有机农业者们还可以采用“混种”的方式将不同的作物栽植在一块地里，利用不同物种的特点驱离病虫害。甚至有些“诱虫作物”可以引诱并杀死害虫，例如，天竺葵能吸引某型日本甲虫，其花瓣分泌出来的某种毒素可以使甲虫瘫软24小时，这些时间足够甲虫们被其他“天敌”杀死了。但是上世纪食物的巨大需求导致化学合成农药在世界范围内大量使用，尤其是滴滴涕和类似的农药问世以后。不过，有些农药因为药性太持久而被禁止在美国使用。某种化学物质若不能很快分解而长时间残留，必定会在土壤中聚集、转移，甚至会沿着食物链达到顶端。人们暴露在农药下的安全浓度因人而异，但是由此产生的严重后果除了脑损伤和生育缺陷外，据信还会引发癌症。一份历时11年（1992年到2003年）的癌症研究报告称，“大部分关于非霍奇金淋巴瘤和白血病的研究发现，该病症与接触农药有很大的关联”，报告者补充道，“少数病例甚至能够确认所用的农药种类。”居住在农场周围的人容易接触到农药，而每个人（不管是否住在农场附近）都可能仅仅因为吃了一根芹菜而接触它。芹菜高居美国农业部发布的食物农药残留名单的首位，其后是桃子、甘蓝、草莓、蓝莓。美国农业部：农药的应用 Crop diversity: Growing individual, isolated crops in bulk has become common for large-scale farms, but since its 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. 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.3）作物多样性：大型农场里常见那种条块化分割、种植单一物种的场景，但是这样子不利于大多数作物自然生长，很多作物需要互相帮助。单一种植一大块地里只种植一个品种，这样存在着极大的风险。因为同样的条件下，该品种作物全部都容易遭受同一种病害侵袭，会引发像十九世纪40年代“爱尔兰马铃薯危机”那样的巨大灾难。然而，采取混种方式的农场里，不仅可以让作物们协同作战防护病虫害，在某种作物遭虫害减产时可以转而倚赖其他存活的作物取得收成。由于这些耕作体系里已经引入病虫害联合防护体系，那些肥料和农药的需求量也就自然减少了。他们也不会有那么大的需求去种植经基因改良的有机作物（GMO），尽管GMO技术甫一问世便激化了有机农业与现代农业的竞争。通常基因改良作物是针对某种特殊的病虫害或者农药而培育的，但是某些有机农业拥趸却说基因改良作物会产生不必要的农药依赖性。例如，农业经济巨头孟山都公司既生产“Roundup”除草剂，又生产经过基因工程改良的、能耐受“Roundup”除草剂的“Roundup-Ready”牌作物种子。有评论人士称要警惕基因改良作物花粉逸散到野外的“基因漂移”效应，更有北-达科他州的科学家最新研究发现经基因改良过蓖麻作物的2种耐除草剂的变种已经从农场传播到野外。不过基因改良作物有时候也可以帮助它们的邻居，有新进研究发现某种基因改良的玉米不仅能保护自己免受玉米螟蛾的侵害，还能保护周围的普通玉米（不受玉米螟蛾虫灾）。John Foxx/Getty Images：玉米地里 Livestock: 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. 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 issu