An Environmental, Energetic and Economic Comparison of Organic and Conventional Farming Systems

Pimentel, David; Burgess, Michael

doi:10.1007/978-94-007-7796-5_6

Cited by 39 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Other variables are investigated in previous studies, including longitude and latitude, precipitation, temperature, humidity, amount of biomass, soil nutrition and acidification, irrigation, tillage, rainfall, intensity of farming, farm slope, and altitude (Kaltsas et al, 2007;Pimentel et al, 2005;Guzman and Alonso, 2008;Zentner et al, 2011;Moreno et al, 2011;Deike et al, 2008). However, these variables are not considered as they appear insufficient (1e15 times) in the 107 studies used for the meta-analysis.…”

Section: Environmental Effects Of Organic Farmingmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…In contrast, previous studies using data from farms with crop rotation and experimental farms were more likely to perform multi-year comparisons. Studies conducted on the experimental farms of research centers have sample periods ranging from 10 to 30 years Gelfand et al, 2010;Hoeppner et al, 2005;Küstermann et al, 2007;Moreno et al, 2011;Nemecek et al, 2011;Nguyen and Haynes, 1995;Pimentel et al, 2005;Reganold et al, 2001;Robertson et al, 2000;Stalenga and Kawalec, 2008;Zentner et al, 2011). In the present study, the duration variable included two categories: one year and multi-year.…”

Section: Study Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The structural variables investigated in previous studies were examined, which included data sources (Wood et al, 2006;Pimentel et al, 2005), duration of the data collection years (Bertilsson et al, 2008), measurement methods (Reganold et al, 2001;Deike et al, 2008;Litskas et al, 2011), measurement unit (Gomiero et al, 2008;MacRae et al, 2011;Mondelaers et al, 2009), environmental impact measures Gomiero et al, 2008;Mondelaers et al, 2009), and various farm characteristics. Product , location (Petersen et al, 2006;Weiske et al, 2006), size (MousaviAvval et al, 2011), and cropping pattern (Bertilsson et al, 2008) of the research farm are included in the farm characteristics.…”

Section: Environmental Effects Of Organic Farmingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Measuring the environmental effects of organic farming: A meta-analysis of structural variables in empirical research

Lee¹,

Choe

Park

2015

Journal of Environmental Management

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This study examined the structural variables affecting the environmental effects of organic farming compared to those of conventional farming. A meta-analysis based on 107 studies and 360 observations published from 1977 to 2012 compared energy efficiency (EE) and greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) for organic and conventional farming. The meta-analysis systematically analyzed the results of earlier comparative studies and used logistic regression to identify the structural variables that contributed to differences in the effects of organic and conventional farming on the environment. The statistical evidence identified characteristics that differentiated the environmental effects of organic and conventional farming, which is controversial. The results indicated that data sources, sample size and product type significantly affected EE, whereas product type, cropping pattern and measurement unit significantly affected the GHGE of organic farming compared to conventional farming. Superior effects of organic farming on the environment were more likely to appear for larger samples, primary data rather than secondary data, monocropping rather than multicropping, and crops other than fruits and vegetables. The environmental effects of organic farming were not affected by the study period, geographic location, farm size, cropping pattern, or measurement method.

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Section: Environmental Effects Of Organic Farmingmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Study Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Environmental Effects Of Organic Farmingmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Measuring the environmental effects of organic farming: A meta-analysis of structural variables in empirical research

Lee¹,

Choe

Park

2015

Journal of Environmental Management

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“…Even though we decided to include this farm pair in our analyses, comparisons between organic and conventional management should in principal consider the farm type in order to produce significant results. Actual FOM supply and the resulting impact on SOM levels differs significantly between farm types within organic farming ( Pimentel et al, 2005; Schmid et al, 2013; Schulz et al, 2014).…”

Section: Characteristics Of Organic Farming and Their Relevance Formentioning

confidence: 99%

Organic matter returns to soils must be higher under organic compared to conventional farming

Leithold

Hülsbergen

Brock

2014

J. Plant Nutr. Soil Sci.

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The aim of this paper is to discuss the demand of fresh organic matter (FOM) supply to maintain soil organic matter (SOM) levels and productivity of arable soils under organic management. The basic question is whether the different frame conditions in organic vs. conventional farming result in a different and system‐specific FOM demand. If this is the case, it would follow that the farming system has to be considered in the calculation of SOM balances. SOM balances are the most common decision support tools in organic matter management. A conversion to organic farming in practice usually leads to an increase of SOM levels as well as soil microbial activity over time. The system‐specific driver of this effect is the indispensable extension of the share of (perennial) legumes in crop rotations at the expense of non‐legumes such as cereals, row crops, and maize. Extended legume cropping is essential for N supply in crop rotations as the import of N fertilizer in total is limited by organic farming regulations and mineral N fertilizer may not be used at all. Based on this characteristic of organic management, we argue that the demand of FOM supply to soils must be higher than in conventional crop production. The most relevant factors are (1) the non‐existence of mineral N fertilizer as an external N source that supports the maintenance of SOM by decreasing the demand for SOM‐N, (2) benefits of increasing SOM stocks and turnover for soil productivity under organic management, and, (3) increased mass‐losses of FOM and easily degradable SOM compartments due to higher microbial activity in soils. These effects have to be quantified and must be considered in SOM balances in order to avoid misleading assessments and erroneous decisions.

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“…On the adaptation side, organic agriculture systems have a strong potential for building resilient food systems in the face of uncertainties, through farm diversification and building soil fertility with organic matter (Blanco et al 2008). Additionally, organic agriculture offers alternatives to energy-intensive production inputs such as synthetic fertilizers which are likely to be further limited for poor rural populations by rising energy prices (Pimentel, 2005). In developing countries, organic agricultural systems achieve equal or even higher yields, as compared to the current conventional practices, which translate into a potentially important option for food security and sustainable livelihoods for the rural poor in times of climate change (Badgley et al 2007).…”

Section: Organic Agriculture and The Climatic Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Future Challenges for the Breeders Struggling the Climatic Changes

Badjakov¹,

Tsvetkov²,

Dincheva³

et al. 2017

EJSD

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The Climate Change is one of the major problems in the entire world. The limiting influence of harmful factors as climate and other environmental changes, it will be crucial to breed new varieties for improved resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses. Climate Change can be tackled through plant breeding and better use of Plant Genetic Resources. Generally, plant breeding is the art and science of genetically improving plants for the benefit of humankind. It is important to mention potential contribution of organically managed systems to climate change mitigation is identified in the careful management of nutrients and, hence, the reduction of N2O emissions from soils. The application of biotechnological approaches, developing and implementation of new "omics" technologies and infrastructure construction on a high scientific level will help in building a strategy to overcome the damage of Climate Change.

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An Environmental, Energetic and Economic Comparison of Organic and Conventional Farming Systems

Cited by 39 publications

References 44 publications

Measuring the environmental effects of organic farming: A meta-analysis of structural variables in empirical research

Measuring the environmental effects of organic farming: A meta-analysis of structural variables in empirical research

Organic matter returns to soils must be higher under organic compared to conventional farming

Future Challenges for the Breeders Struggling the Climatic Changes

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