I'm reading a book called "Organic Inc." and it says the average organic crop
has a 20% lower yield than with pesticides. The argument is, based on the price of the chemicals and the labor, is it really just a wash? 20% lower yield vs. significantly higher expenses. Even then, if you're looking at it from a short view, it's still slightly more productive to use chemicals. But the long view takes into account the external costs (land and water degredation, health side effects, etc.), and organic is by far better the better option.
In this book "Organic, Inc." the case they make on California strawberries alone is shocking. For every acre of non-organic strawberries, they use 2,000 pounds of chemicals. California--just the strawberry market, uses over 2 Million pounds of pesicides, annually.
The problem is, big business and government programs support the large scale farms with pesticides. They've got millions of dollars backing their cause.
And organic farming has been very much a trial and error, grassroots effort with little financial support. So learning which crops are better to follow eachother, or which have a commensal relationship during the growing season. It's been a slow process.
