New solutions in bio-production

A new study shows that sustainable methods of food production do not cost more than the usual production means. Environmentally-friendly foods can reach the supermarket shelves for the same costs as they do through current non-sustainable methods of production, according to the results of a 10-year study from researchers at the University of Copenhagen's Faculty of Life Sciences.

At a 12 hectare organic farm outside the suburb of Taastrup, scientists have been able to achieve the same production at the same costs as they would have at a typical non-sustainable farm. 'It's really fantastic,' said the project's head researcher, Claus Felby, who credits the areas vast rows of willow trees as being the secret of the farm's success. 'The trees trap nitrogen from the soil so that it doesn't run into the groundwater,' he told Nyhedsavisen newspaper. 'At the same time they provide a shelter for wasps that eat the aphids here so we don't have to spray the fields with pesticides.