Episode #5 of the Science vs. podcast addressed organic food. Very well done. And they actually talk with real organic farmers, some of which are a little disturbed by the myths surrounding organic, from the intro:
"It’s an epic three-way battle this week — organic vs conventional vs …science. Three out of every four American grocery stores sell organic products, but what are you really getting when you buy them? Better taste? Fewer toxic chemicals? A cleaner environment? Farmers Mark, Andy, and Brian Reeves, nutritional epidemiologist Dr. Kathryn Bradbury, Prof. Cynthia Curl, and Prof. Navin Ramankutty help us sort it all out."
One thing that is brought up is that the manure used in organic food production may not have came from 'organic' livestock operations. This is an important point Jayson Lusk mentioned previously:
"Indeed, if one wants large scale organic, it almost certainly
implies (given the current population) the need for large scale
non-organic. All that life-supporting nitrogen has to come from
somewhere. Until we find a better way, right now it is coming from
Haber and Bosch and is smuggled into organic agriculture via animal
manure. "
Not to mention the positive exernalities (i.e. benefits) that biotech provides non-biotech producers in terms of pest protection- see here.
