有机农产品的市场在不断发展，但有机农业背后的科学却受到人们的质疑。《自然》杂志最近发表的一篇评论文章(Vol. 410. 409-410)
呼吁对认为有机农业优于其他农业的说法进行正确的科学验证。《自然》发表了对不同农业方法进行科学比较的研究结果。在美国华盛顿州(那里出产“地球上最好的苹果”，www.bestapples.com)进行的一项为期6年的研究中，有机苹果(即采用有机农业方法生产的苹果)得分高于其他苹果。虽然产量基本上是一样的，但与综合苹果(即用综合农业方法生产的苹果)和传统苹果(即用传统农业方法生产的苹果)相比，有机苹果味道更甜，不太酸，就环境与经济可持续性而言，其得分也高于后者。本期封面所示为华盛顿州出产的一种金色美味苹果。照片提供：John Marshall。(Letters, p.926)
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[ Abstract ]
Sustainability of three apple production systems
John P. Reganold, Jerry D. Glover, Preston K. Andrews and Herbert R.
Hinman
Escalating production costs, heavy reliance on non-renewable resources,
reduced biodiversity, water contamination, chemical residues in food, soil
degradation and health risks to farm workers handling pesticides all bring into
question the sustainability of conventional farming systems. It has been
claimed, however, that organic farming systems are less efficient, pose greater
health risks and produce half the yields of conventional farming systems.
Nevertheless, organic farming became one of the fastest growing segments of US
and European agriculture during the 1990s. Integrated farming, using a
combination of organic and conventional techniques, has been successfully
adopted on a wide scale in Europe. Here we report the sustainability of organic,
conventional and integrated apple production systems in Washington State from
1994 to 1999. All three systems gave similar apple yields. The organic and
integrated systems had higher soil quality and potentially lower negative
environmental impact than the conventional system. When compared with the
conventional and integrated systems, the organic system produced sweeter and
less tart apples, higher profitability and greater energy efficiency. Our data
indicate that the organic system ranked first in environmental and economic
sustainability, the integrated system second and the conventional system last.
选自《自然》中文版nature asia
