Study finds commercial organic farms have better fruit and soil, lower environmental impact

Research team compared fields and fruits in heart of nation’s strawberry patch

		IMAGE: John Reganold is lead author of a PLoS ONE paper finding organic farms produced more flavorful and nutritious berries than conventional farms while leaving the soil healthier and more genetically… Click here for more information.

PULLMAN, Wash.—Side-by-side comparisons of organic and conventional strawberry farms and their fruit found the organic farms produced more flavorful and nutritious berries while leaving the soil healthier and more genetically diverse.

“Our findings have global implications and advance what we know about the sustainability benefits of organic farming systems,” said John Reganold, Washington State University Regents professor of soil science and lead author of a paper published today in the peer-reviewed online journal, PLoS ONE. “We also show you can have high quality, healthy produce without resorting to an arsenal of pesticides.”

The study is among the most comprehensive of its kind, analyzing 31 chemical and biological soil properties, soil DNA, and the taste, nutrition and quality of three strawberry varieties on more than two dozen commercial fields—13 conventional and 13 organic.

“There is no paper in the literature that comprehensively and quantitatively compares so many indices of both food and soil quality at multiple sampling times on so many commercial farms,” said Reganold. Previous Reganold studies of “sustainability indicators” on farms in the Pacific Northwest, California, British Columbia, Australia, and New Zealand have appeared in the journals Science, Nature, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

All the farms in the current study were in California, home to 90 percent of the nation’s strawberries and the center of an ongoing debate about the use of soil fumigants. Conventional farms in the study used the ozone-depleting methyl bromide, which is slated to be replaced by the highly toxic methyl iodide over the protests of health advocates and more than 50 Nobel laureates and members of the National Academy of Sciences. In July, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein asked the EPA to reconsider its approval of methyl iodide.

Reganold’s study team included Preston Andrews, a WSU associate professor of horticulture, and seven other experts, mostly from WSU, to form a multidisciplinary team spanning agroecology, soil science, microbial ecology, genetics, pomology, food science, sensory science, and statistics. On almost every major indicator, they found the organic fields and fruit were equal to or better than their conventional counterparts.

Among their findings:

• The organic strawberries had significantly higher antioxidant activity and concentrations of ascorbic acid and phenolic compounds.
  
• The organic strawberries had longer shelf life.
  
• The organic strawberries had more dry matter, or, “more strawberry in the strawberry.”
  
• Anonymous testers, working at times under red light so the fruit color would not bias them, found one variety of organic strawberries was sweeter, had better flavor, and once a white light was turned on, appearance. The testers judged the other two varieties to be similar.

The researchers also found the organic soils excelled in a variety of key chemical and biological properties, including carbon sequestration, nitrogen, microbial biomass, enzyme activities, and micronutrients.

DNA analysis found the organically managed soils had dramatically more total and unique genes and greater genetic diversity, important measures of the soil’s resilience to stress and ability to carry out essential processes.

=========================

유기농과일, 항산화성분 “훨씬” 많아

출처 : 연합뉴스 2010/09/03 09:36 



http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/international/2010/09/03/0619000000AKR20100903052600009.HTML?template=3398

(서울=연합뉴스) 한성간 기자 = 유기농 딸기가 농약을 뿌려 재배한 딸기에 비해 항산화물질이 훨씬 많이 함유되어있다는 연구결과가 나왔다.

   항산화물질은 우리 몸의 대사과정에서 생성되는 유해산소분자로 암 등 질병을 유발할 수 있는 활성산소를 무력화시킬 수 있는 물질이다.

   미국 워싱턴 주립대학의 존 리거놀드(John Reganold) 박사는 캘리포니아의 13개 유기농 농장과 13개 재래식 농장에서 재배된 딸기 3종류의 영양소, 질, 맛 등을 분석한 결과 이 같은 사실이 밝혀졌다고 말한 것으로 영국의 일간 데일리 메일 인터넷판이 2일 보도했다.

   유기농 딸기들은 항산화물질도 많이 들어있었지만 맛과 질도 우수한 것으로 나타났다.
리거놀드 박사는 유기농 딸기와 농약을 뿌려 재배한 딸기가 자란 토양도 분석한 결과 유기농 딸기가 재배된 토양이 훨씬 건강하고 박테리아와 곤충들이 더 많이 서식하고 있는 것으로 밝혀졌다.

   영국 식품표준청(Food Standard Agency)은 작년 유기농 식품이 일반식품에 비해 건강에 더 좋다는 증거가 없다고 밝힌 바 있다.

   그러나 유럽연합(EU)의 지원 아래 유럽 31개 대학 연구팀이 진행한 연구결과에 따르면 유기농 작물이 농약을 사용한 작물에 비해 비타민과 항산화물질 함량이 많고 금속과 독성 화학물질은 적은 것으로 밝혀졌다.
이 연구결과는 온라인 과학전문지 ‘공중과학도서관 – 원(PLoS One)’에 실렸다.

   skhan@yna.co.kr