VOA慢速英语:The Limits to Organic Farming in Feeding the World

Organic farming avoids the use of chemical pesticides and manmade fertilizers. Supporters say organic farming is better for the environment than conventional methods. But studies have shown that organic farming generally produces less food per hectare.
有机农业避免了使用化学杀虫剂和人工化肥。支持者称，有机农业比传统方式更加环保。但研究表明，有机农业每公顷产量比较低。

That lower yield means feeding the world organically would require more land. But good farmland is limited. And scientists say deforestation from the clearing of land for agriculture is already a problem for climate change.
产量低意味着用有机食物养活全世界需要更多土地。但良好的耕地是有限的。科学家们称，整理农业用地中的滥砍滥伐已经是一个气候变化的问题。

In a new study, researchers wanted to measure the difference between conventional and organic yields. So they combined the results of sixty-six earlier studies. They found that some organic farms can yield almost as much as conventional farms. But most cannot.
在一项新的研究中，研究人员希望测量传统和有机产量之间的差异。因此他们结合了66个早期的研究结果。他们发现，一些有机农场产量几乎接近传统农场，但大多数做不到。

Verena Seufert at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, was the lead author of the study in the journal Nature.
加拿大麦吉尔大学的Verena Seufert是这项发表在《自然》杂志上研究的主要作者。

VERENA SEUFERT: "Conventional yields are typically higher than organic yields. But with certain management practices, certain environmental conditions, and certain crop species, this yield difference can be quite small."
VERENA SEUFERT：“传统农场的产量通常高于有机农场。但在特定管理实践中，特定的环境条件下，以及特定作物品种的情况下，产量差异可能相当小。”

On average, organic farms produced twenty-five percent less compared to conventional farms. But yields of organic fruits and other perennial crops nearly equaled the yields from conventional ones. So did the yields of legumes such as soybeans. Legumes produce some of their own nitrogen fertilizer.
平均而言，有机农场比传统农场产量低25%。但有机水果和其它多年生作物的产量与传统产量几乎相同。黄豆一类的豆类植物产量也是如此。豆类能够产生一些自己所需的氮肥。

However, organic vegetables and cereal crops like maize and wheat had a lot lower yields compared to conventionally grown crops.
然而，有机蔬菜和像玉米及小麦这样的谷类作物的产量比常规种植作物低很多。

Ms. Seufert says the soil on organic farms holds water better, and that can reduce the yield difference. Also, organic farmers can improve their yields by making sure their crops get enough fertilizer. But increasing the nitrogen is harder to do organically, using just animal waste and crop rotations.
Seufert女士称，有机农场土壤持水更好，也可以减少产量差异。此外，有机农民可以通过确保庄稼得到足够的肥料来提高产量。但使用动物粪便和作物轮作这种有机方式增加氮肥是很难做到的。

Organic farmers rotate food crops with plants that fertilize the soil. But while these "cover," or fertilizer, crops are growing, food crops have to be grown on other land. And if farmers use manure, they have to feed the animals that produce it, and that requires grazing land or crop land.
有机农民轮作可以培肥土壤的作物和粮食作物。不过种植这些肥料作物时，就只能在其它地里种植粮食作物。而如果农民使用农家肥，他们就必须喂养产生农家肥的动物。而就需要牧场和耕地。

The United Nations predicts that world demand for food will grow seventy percent by the middle of the century. John Reganold is a soil scientist at Washington State University. He says no one should dismiss organic agriculture as part of the solution.
联合国预测，到本世纪中叶，世界对粮食的需求将增长70%。John Reganold是华盛顿州立大学一名土壤科学家。他说，任何人都不能忽视有机农业作为解决办法的一部分。

JOHN REGANOLD: "I think when people see these studies, their first reaction is, 'Well, my goodness, organic farming can't feed the world.' Guess what? Conventional farming cannot sustainably feed the world."
JOHN REGANOLD说：“我认为，当人们看到这些研究时，他们的第一反应是，'好吧，我的天啊，有机农业不能养活世界。' 你知道吗？，常规农业也不能可持续地养活世界。”

Mr. Reganold -- who was not part of the study -- says farming is increasingly a combination of organic and conventional methods.
并非该研究中一员的Reganold说，农业正日益成为有机和常规方式相结合的一个整体。

JOHN REGANOLD: "And it's really going to be a blend of these, I think, more diverse systems that are going to save us."
JOHN REGANOLD说：“而它真的是融合了这些。我认为，更多样化的体系会拯救我们。”