Organic farms provide jobs, high yields.

• Author: Herro, Alana
• Position: Brief article

Organic farming provides 32 percent more jobs per farm in the United Kingdom than conventional agriculture, according to a May study from the Soil Association. The study says that 93,000 new jobs could be created if all of Britain's farms were to switch to organic practices, which include avoiding the use of toxic chemical inputs and genetically altered seeds. Such job creation could not be replicated in non-organic farming, the report notes, because "it is the system of organic farming itself that demands more labour and creates more jobs."

Critics argue, however, that the labor intensity of organic farming leads to higher food costs and would likely make a large-scale shift to organic in the U.K. infeasible (currently only about 4 percent of British farms are organic). "The most expensive cost for farmers is labour, and that is why organic food as a rule of thumb costs half as much again (50 percent more)" than conventional food, economist Sean Rickard of the Cranfield School of Management told Reuters.

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