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The question of whether organic food can help tackle world hunger is a subject of heated debate. It’s also the topic of a new provocatively-named book in German “Food Crash – We will Subsist Organically or Not at All” by Felix Prinz zu Lowenstein, the head of Germany’s Association for Organic Food (BOLW).

As the title suggests, the book makes the case for organic farming free from pesticides, chemical fertilizers and genetically engineered crops as the only way to feed the world in the long-term.

It disputes the often-cited claim by advocates of modern intensive farming that “going organic” will not produce enough food to feed large populations.

“The fact is that organic farming only produces significantly lower yields than conventional farming in our high-intensity farms in the West – mainly in central Europe,” zu Lowenstein said at a recent book presentation in Berlin.

The trained agricultural scientist pointed out that in less developed countries regularly hit by famine and drought, and where conventional agricultural systems aren’t that intensive to start with, organic farming is often much more productive.