Can organic agriculture sustain current levels of food production?

A recent report by Ivette Perfecto, Catherine Badgley and others at the University of Michigan suggests the organic agriculture is capable of sustaining or increasing current levels of food production globally.

Organic farming can yield up to three times as much food as conventional farming on the same amount of land—according to new findings which refute the long-standing assumption that organic farming methods cannot produce enough food to feed the global population.

According to the press release, the authors found that organic agriculture, which they define as "practices referred to as sustainable or ecological; that utilize non-synthetic nutrient cycling processes; that exclude or rarely use synthetic pesticides; and sustain or regenerate the soil quality", can maintain current levels of production in developed countries, and as much as triple production in developing countries.

The original article was published in Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems. There's a more detailed review at New Scientist and a two-part story(part 1, part 2) at OrganicAuthority.com.

H/T Meteor Blades at dKos.