It's a mistake to think that much of what happens in industrial agriculture is driven by science, or a desire to feed everyone on the planet. Industrial agriculture exists because it makes money.
Likewise, local food production and organic standards will spread widely only if they can return a profit.
Efficiency is a secondary consideration in both scenarios.
The relative efficiency of industrial agriculture is not all that clear when its subsidies are considered. Among those subsidies are government support, the free discharge of wastes into the environment, the mining of the soil and cultural expectations that lots of animal protein are necessary in the diet. This last subsidy, if addressed, would do more for feeding everyone than anything else.
Plenty of scientists are concerned about the state of our soils around the world. Organic farming addresses this problem with maximal efficiency.
At the same time, until 10 percent of the population is willing to turn to intensive gardening - the most productive form of farming - as a full-time occupation, we are stuck with the industrial model. Our best hope is that organic principles may be selectively applied insofar as these can be made economically viable or adequately subsidized in order to reduce pollution and improve the soil without production losses.
As always is the case, the best answers are found between the extremes of interest-group rationality and idealist perfectionism.
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