Hi crofter,
This is burning in me for nearly as long as I farm. Interesting that nobody has relay answered the question behind your question, but I will try to dig deeper.
It took me seven years of ag school to get me highest degree of certification as a practical farmer, but in thus seven years, not one minute was spend on marketing, but all revolved around producing more per unit (acre, cow, pig etc.). As we have increased production, prices have declined or best case scenario stayed leveled, but with inflation considered into the equation still declined. The only thing that made farmers survive was to cover more units (acre, cows, pigs etc.). This all would have been impossible without the technical revolution.
Now, I still farm, but more as a research farmer then needing to make money, I export to the countries that have the $, best US$. This takes special product, special care and special attention and it is a niche market.
Now lets get to your question. Assuming the world (all nation united in doing the same) outlaw all chemical inputs by farmers to produce crops (acres, cows, pigs etc.) and I mean any and everything, herbicides,insecticides, fungicides, this-cides and that-cides, fertilizer, gmo seeds and whatever more our predecessors 200 years ago dreamed of to make starvation a thing of the past and farm production not as back-breaking as it use to be.
In fact, you would convert all agriculture to organic:thumbsup:, but then farming would not be sustainable any-longer, because we have nothing in amounts to refill the soil deficits this production scheme would remove from the soil. Their is simply not enough manure in the proper composition to replace the NPKCa and micros that are removed.
Calculations have projected that the production on the presently arable land would decline by 33-50% if farmers go to 100% organic. Quality and timely delivery would at most be luck and any overproduction would be gone and it would be putting world agricultural raw supplies of food to a level that could sustain 3-4 billion people. Here come now the social gut-kick: only the once with money, guns or power would be able to feed themselves (and farmers). Prices would skyrocket and people, particularly in large urban areas would have to wait until the food trucks come to get something to eat, perhaps drink too.
This would be the most unsocial decision mankind could make and I would not know the outcome of it.
Our lifestyle is sustained because of people we don't see that produce products cheap, lousy cheap, farmers, workers in China, India, Bangladesh, etc. but we complain that thus farmers are evil and thus nations have us by the neck and we are at their mercy.
We, they superior race on this planet have messed this all up pretty good and I don't know the way out anymore.
Finally: be careful what you ask for, because you might not be able to but the genie back in the bottle.
JoergK.