This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。

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。支持者表示，有机农业比传统方式更环保。但研究表明，有机农业每公顷产量通常更低。

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世界人口需要更多土地。但良田有限。科学家表示，整理农业用地中的滥砍滥伐已经成为了气候变化的一大问题。

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生产之间的差异。因此他们结合了66项早期研究的结果。他们发现，部分有机农场产量几乎接近传统农场，但大部分有机农场无法做到。

Verena Seufert at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, was the lead author of the study in the journal Nature.

加拿大麦基尔大学的Verena Seufert是这项发表在《自然》杂志上的研究的主要作者。

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说：“传统农场产量通常高于有机农场产量。但在特定管理实践，特定环境条件，以及特定作物品种的情况下，产量差异会相当细微。”

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

产量几乎等同于传统产量。黄豆一类的豆科植物产量也是如此。豆科植物能够自己产生一些所需的氮肥。

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，以及玉米和小麦一类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女士表示，有机农场土壤可以更好地保持水分，这可以缩小产量差异。此外，有机农民可以通过确保庄稼获得足够肥料来提高产量。但使用动物粪便和作物轮作这种有机方式增加氮肥非常困难。

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.

有机农民轮作可以肥田的作物和粮食作物。但种植这些肥料作物（可以肥田的作物）时，就只能在其它地里种植粮食作物。同时如果农民使用农家肥，他们就必须喂养产生农家肥的动物。这些就需要牧场和耕地。

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，世界粮食需求将增长70%。John Reganold是华盛顿州立大学一名土壤科学家。他表示，任何人都不能忽视有机农业是解决办法的一部分。

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，'天啊，有机农业无法养活世界。' 你猜怎么着，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. Reganold并非该研究中的一员，他说，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：“它确实会融合这些。我认为更多样化的体系会拯救我们。”