“Can we efficiently feed the world and provide it with organic green products?” Peter Klapwijk asks in his new blog. "Until recently, my answer was a very strong no. Organic cultivation in a greenhouse doesn't allow efficient disease control and growing in the soil is hard to control and allows a maximum production of just two thirds compared to hydroponic production. For me, organic cultivation represented a niche that was too expensive and if this becomes the norm in the long term a famine is looming, crudely speaking."
"A year or two ago I arrived at a tipping point. In Canada, I was confronted with a demo greenhouse that trialed organic cultivation on an organic substrate (coir, supplemented by compost and natural nutrients). Because of the growing market demand for organic products they had decided to pursue reliable, modern, organic cultivation methods here. Legislation in this country also allowed growing organics in a substrate."
"To date, certified organic cultivation in Europe has only been possible when the product is grown directly in the soil. Substrates are out of the question. I understand the emotion, but I am increasingly convinced that this is a misconception. There is nothing against growing in the soil, but rationally speaking, this cultivation method has greater emissions to the environment, while the production efficiency is clearly less. By adhering to this historic principle you strongly limit the market and the production possibilities of organic products."
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