Episode 007 - What is Organic Agriculture?

How organics play a role in the quest for sustainable agriculture. An interview with Dr. David Granatstein. 

In this interview of Environmentality., Dr. David Granatstein, Professor Emeritus at Washington State University shares about his experiences with organic agriculture, and in particular, the organic tree fruit industry that he worked alongside for many years and is so prevalent in WA state. Granatstein shares about the problems organic growers face, recent breakthroughs for the industry and where the industry, in terms of research, is heading.

Dr. Granatstein also shares his perspective on how to properly evaluate food production systems, that the often used dichotomy of conventional vs. organic is misleading, ineffective and not conducive for proper sustainability evaluations. He shares about the use of the "Sustainability Index," and how we need common metrics and methodologies to evaluate the sustainability of particular farming systems.

We also discuss integrated pest management, mating pheromone disruption, and how he got interested in agriculture in general. 

To learn more about his research, visit:  http://tfrec.cahnrs.wsu.edu/organicag/about-david-granatstein/ 
To connect with Dr. David Granatstein visit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-granatstein/