Analyzing organic agriculture’s potential to nourish, preserve, and outperform conventional farming in Switzerland

Abstract

Although there is a widespread positive perception of the environmental impacts of organic agriculture, scientific evidence is more nuanced. This paper provides a commodity-based modelling of the Swiss domestic food production in 2050, derived in four scenarios, to compare the environmental impacts of organic and business-as-usual production as well as of two diets, namely the EAT-Lancet and the Swiss Food Pyramid diets. Then, a Life Cycle Assessment based approach is conducted to assess the environmental impacts through climate, ecosystems, soil, and resource depletion. All scenarios showcased lower impacts against the reference year (2018) mostly thanks to the dietary shifts. Despite lower yields, 100% organic farming production remains feasible under our assumption. Organic agriculture can be more impactful than conventional. Although a shift towards a more sustainable diet is needed, the EAT diet is not always the better option depending on the country’s context.