3 myths about agro-ecology you've always heard,
but nobody had the courage to deny.
Myth # 1: organic food is more expensive.
Not at all! Organic food appears to be more expensive because the supermarkets,
where we usually buy it, charge up to 4 times as much as farmer’s markets. (up to 463% more)
Myth # 2: Agro-ecological production is less productive than conventional agriculture.
Agro-ecology is at least as productive as conventional agriculture.
And there’s an extra advantage: agro-ecological production enriches the soil
and so it remains productive indefinitely.
Pesticides and chemical fertilizers slowly weaken the soil and contaminate the water.
Myth # 3: agro-ecology means “returning to the stone-age”
Actually, agro-ecological production is always adapting in light of new knowledge and technologies.
While conventional agriculture always follows the same recipe,
agro-ecology uses many different solutions.
An encyclopaedia of knowledge is spread amongst communities.
Globally, we already ruin over 5 million hectares of soil each year.
An area bigger than the State of Rio de Janeiro.
24% of our planet’s land is less productive than it used to be.
Because of bad use of the soil.
And there’s more: around the world, we use as much as 4.5 billion litters of pesticides.
And Brazil more than anyone else. (1/5 of the pesticides use. 850 million litters in 2011)
We want an agriculture that can feed the world.
Forever!
How about you? How do you want your agriculture?