Contribution of organic farming to public goods in Denmark

Abstract

The potential contribution of organic farming to the public goods, 'Nature and Biodiversity', 'Environment', 'Energy and Climate', 'Human Health and Welfare' and 'Animal Health and Welfare' in Denmark is guided and partly secured by the principles and specific requirements of the EU Organic Regulation. However, other factors, such as the production type, farm size, geographical location and-not the least-the management of the farm, also influence the contribution. Using the ban on synthetic pesticides and restricted use of antibiotics, including the requirements to compensate for and prevent such uses in organic farming, as examples, the positive and negative contributions of organic farming in relation to selected public goods were analysed. The contributions of organic farming to Nature and Biodiversity and Human and Animal Health and Welfare are mainly positive compared to conventional farming for all farm types, whilst the effects on Environment and Energy and Climate are mixed; i.e. some effects are positive and others are negative. The analysis revealed a need for further documentation and revision of the organic principles and specific organic requirementsin particular in relation to the public goods Energy and Climate, which at present are not addressed in the EU Organic Regulation. Moreover, some organic farming requirements and practices cause dilemmas; e.g. more space per animal and outdoor access improves Animal Health and Welfare but at the same time has negative effects on Environment, Energy Consumption and Climate Change. These dilemmas should be solved before OA may be fully attractive as an integrated policy measure supporting jointly several public goods objectives.

Characteristics of organic dairy major farm types in seven European countries

“…Consumer demand for organic products is increasing (European Commission 2014;Eurostat 2016) and this, together with the premium price for organic products, has prompted an increase in organic production (Rosati and Aumaitre 2004;Escribano et al 2015). Moreover, organic production contributes public goods such as biodiversity and human and animal health and welfare (Jespersen et al 2017). In Europe, the organic dairy sector has seen a steady increase, reaching a market share of between 2 and 11% in 2016 depending on country, with the main markets being in Western Europe (Sørensen et al 2006).…”

Effect of Three Husbandry Systems on Environmental Impact of Organic Pigs

“…Following LCA-related guidelines, such as PAS2050 [25], for the assessment of greenhouse gas emissions, emissions from the construction of farm infrastructure (e.g., livestock barns, machinery, farm buildings) were excluded from the LCA. Furthermore, veterinary treatments and inputs, such as cleaning agents and disinfectants, were not considered within the system boundaries as a lower use is assumed in organic farming [26]. The functional unit was 1000 kg of live weight of fattening pigs leaving the farm (live weight at slaughter), including culled sows.…”

Integrated Assessment of Farming System Outputs: Lithuanian Case Study

“…Generally, conventional farming supports the society mostly with the provisioning services or market outputs, and is usually considered as a producer of negative impacts (Zhukova et al, 2017;Wagner et al, 2017). Meanwhile, organic farming is usually considered as a provider of supporting and regulating services due to its low input during the production process (Jespersen et al, 2017;Krause & Machek, 2018), which are usually considered as non-market outputs. These effects are not accounted for in the market and are fairly difficult to quantify.…”