Erik Fyrwald, the CEO of the Swiss agrochemicals group Syngenta, has called for an end to organic farming to avoid a worsening food crisis. The president of the Swiss Small Farmers’ Association meanwhile dismissed his arguments as “grotesque”.

Rich countries should increase their agricultural production in order to prevent a global food crisis, Fyrwald told the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper in an interview on [May 8]. Organic farming yields can be up to 50% lower than non-organic farming, depending on the product, he claimed.

“The indirect consequence is that people are starving in Africa because we are eating more and more organic products,” he told NZZ.

Organic farming requires more land and it is bad for the climate because the fields are usually ploughed, which increases CO2 emissions, he added.

Fyrwald said his opposition to organic farming was in no way linked to Syngenta’s business objectives. The Chinese-owned group produces pesticides and genetically modified (GM) seeds.

“The entire industry makes high profits with organic products because consumers are willing to pay a lot for it,” he declared. Fyrwald advocates a third way: so-called regenerative farming that uses crop rotation techniques from organic farming and the targeted use of pesticides and GMOs to increase yields.

Reacting to the interview, Kilian Baumann, a Bernese organic farmer and president of the Swiss Small Farmers’ Association, called Fyrwald’s arguments “grotesque”.

He said the Syngenta CEO was “fighting for sales” as farmers are using “fewer and fewer pesticides”.

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