Page 88 - Fall2020

the overpopulation problem was solved? Population Roads to Peace or War started a storm of controversy
These were the questions being asked in about the ethics and morality of birth control. It also started a neo-Mal-
1945 by Guy Irving Burch and Elmer Pendall thusian movement in the U.S., which would reach its zenith in the 1970s.
in their influential book Population Roads to It initiated trends that would shape U.S. foreign policy for the remainder
Peace or War. The book’s central thesis was of the twentieth century. And even if no one today realizes it, it was the
that democracy and freedom were impossible in beginning of the idea that organic agriculture couldn’t feed the world.
overpopulated countries. “Democracy has been “We could go back to an organic agriculture in this country if we had
a rare institution in the history of the world,” to,” Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz told The New York Times on April
Burch and Pendall argued. “It is like a flower that 16, 1972. “We know how to do it. We did it when I was a kid. We didn’t
cannot survive where the weeds of overpopula- use any chemicals then. But before we go back to organic agriculture
tion crowd.” War, they stated, was caused by somebody is going to have to decide what 50 million people we are going
scarcity of natural resources and food, and thus to let starve. . . . You simply could not feed 206 million Americans even
the best way to prevent war in the future was to at subsistence levels with the kind of agriculture we had 50 years ago. It
halt population growth. would be impossible.”
Burch and Pendall believed that the opti- Butz was right that 1920s American agriculture couldn’t have fed
mum world population was somewhere around everyone in the 1970s, or today. But he mistakenly equated organic agri-
1.6 billion people, based on calculations that culture with the inefficient practices upon which the original “2.5 acres per
there were approximately four billion acres of ar- person” statistic was based. Unfortunately Butz was an influential leader,
able land on earth and that it took two and a half and many people wanted to believe him. His unsupported statement was
acres to provide “a minimum adequate diet” for repeated so many times that many people today sincerely believe it is
each person. The earth was already overpopu- true. But it isn’t, and it never was.
lated by some six hundred million people, they In reality, organic agriculture and what we now call “conventional”
argued, which was what had sparked the world agriculture were both developed in the 1940s to improve wasteful farming
war and would continue to cause wars until the practices. They both are capable of increasing yields many times over the
population could be decreased back down to 1.6 averages of the 1920s. Organic agriculture holds just as much promise
billion people. of feeding nine billion people by 2050 as any other system and may be
The solution? Population control. Burch and more sustainable in the long run.
Pendall advocated an immediate international Can organic agriculture feed the world? Only time will tell, but there
birth control program to stabilize and eventually is no inherent reason why it can’t.
slightly decrease the world’s population. It must, This article first appeared in Acres USA, May 2019.
at all costs, be stabilized at no higher than two
billion to keep world peace. Their book was the Anneliese Abbott is a graduate fellow in the Nelson Institute for Envi-
first to lay out so clearly the neo-Malthusian ap- ronmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She holds a
proach to world problems. While admitting that B.S. in plant and soil science from The Ohio State University, has been
birth control was “not a cure-all,” they felt that researching sustainable agriculture and agricultural history since 2015,
it was a vital first step to prevent World War III and is writing a book on the history of Malabar Farm in Ohio. She can
from destroying the human race. be contacted at amabbott@wisc.edu.

INVITATION TO WAPF MEMBERS
We invite all members of the Weston A. Price Foundation to join our exclusive members-only closed group on
Facebook. Over two thousand members have already joined. Go to this link and click on the Join Group button and
answer the questions it asks: facebook.com/groups/westonapricefoundation.
This is an opportunity to be part of an active and supportive online community as you navigate our dietary recom-
mendations. This group was created for current WAPF members as a forum for questions, comments and discussion
about food, farming and the healing arts. Here’s what members are saying about being part of this group (see page 25):
Christi F.: “Most who join WAPF’s members-only group and follow the diet/lifestyle have had chronic illnesses or symp-
toms for years. In a world where you are told by western doctors to just take a prescription or it’s all in your head, it’s
comforting to be able to go beyond a book (Nourishing Traditions) for that extra cushion of support. If you have a question,
you’ll get a variety of answers allowing you to make an informed decision. I’ve gotten great recipes and meal ideas. And
most importantly, when you feel alone, stuck or struggling, shoot a post in the group and you’ll receive an overwhelming
amount of love and support. Many of the members in this group are empathetic and sensitive, positive and supportive.”
86 Wise Traditions FALL 2020