How can confidence in organic vegetables be improved?
For a man of science, Jonathan Wong Woon-chung sounds an awful lot like he is trying to sell something ('Those 'organic' vegetables may not be so organic', March 30). He deftly destroys claims in Hong Kong regarding some organic vegetables by the use of statistics and studies, then claims, totally without quantitative support, that 'people preferred buying locally produced vegetables with certification, even though they were more expensive'. Who does, exactly?
Unlike many of these alleged people, I will quite happily buy normal, cheap veg and, if it happens to have had natural fertilisers and pesticides used, and be non-GM, then fine. It's up to the farmer, I don't care - organic or non-organic, it's just as good for me.
Certainly, I would rather my farmer saved a bit of money by not being forced to apply for organic certification - which I assume is what the Hong Kong Organic Resource Centre is trying to promote - and passed the savings on to me. I will take the farmer's word for it. Don't environmentalists claim that organic food tastes better anyway? If so, what is the need for a certificate - can't they tell?
But I suppose I ought to let the organic lobby make hay while the sun shines.
With food prices increasing all the time and a growing population, producing food organically, that is, inefficiently, will eventually become unviable if people are to have enough to eat.