I have done a lot of reading, testing and visiting of farms for my own small farm. The promises of safe, healthy food at higher yields than conventional conventional farming sounds great.

I have researched 4 types of farming 1. Classic conventional 2. Modern Conventional 3. Organic 4. Permaculture

Unfortunately i will not be able to provide links to scientific studies or books at this time.

The differences between these 4 types are basically:

1. : high crop yield, moderate to heavy use of synthetic pesticides, low crop rotation, high quality crop
2. : Extremely high crop yield, low to moderate use of synthetic pesticides, high crop rotation, extremely high quality crop
3. : Low crop yield, moderate to heavy use of classic pesticides, high crop rotation, low quality crop
4. : Medium to high crop yeild, no use of pesticides, no crop rotation, medium quality crop

Because organic farming relies on classic pesticides the farmers are often forced to use dangerous types that are dangerous to humans and wildlife.

Because modern conventional farming has advanced techniques for choosing crop types and protecting them from pest they can get away with using very little synthetic pesticides. Unlike classic pesticides synthetic ones have to pass a lot of safety testing before they can be used. Rule of thumb: modern synthetic pesticides are safe

Finally due to the options modern conventional farming has, the crop will usually end up being better tasting, prettier to look at, bigger in size and cheaper to produce.

In the organic vs conventional discussion a lot of people fail to realize or mention that modern conventional farming is at a "space age level", near my home there is a tech research company that designs cutting edge farming machines. These things are basically huge robots that can run a farm almost on their own. Almost all of the farming here occurs in greenhouses that have full climate control with pests being naturally dealt with through the use of wasps and ladybugs, note that these are not organic farms.