Any attempt to 'go organic', to thus increase the price of fruit and vegetables and thereby reduce consumption will have the consequences on cancer and death I have listed above. Let us hope it is not your child. My fear is that unsubstantiated claims and incorrect assumptions about organic food will lead those who strive upwards on weak incomes to buy organic but eat less fruit and vegetables because of the expense. The only justification left for buying organic food is that farmers apply less pesticide in its production. I am often asked what do I want to see in agriculture.
Variety is probably the spice of stability.
In fact ICM with its emphasis on crop rotation, integrated pest management, zero tillage and precisely timed manure and mineral application is nicely placed between two extremes. As for many of our students with lecture information, the instructions and rules pass through, with out stopping in the brains of either. The goal must be to train the farmer to view his farm as an ecosystem and then leave it to the individual and his particular circumstance to construct his own farming system. Advantageously a variety of agricultural styles would result which should improve the stability of food supply in the uncertain years ahead.