To what extent does organic farming rely on nutrient inflows from conventional farming?

Abstract

Organic farming is increasingly recognized as a prototype for sustainable agriculture. Its guidelines ban the use of artificial fertilizers. However, organic farms may import nutrients from conventional farming through material exchanges. In this study, we aimed at estimating the magnitude of these flows through the quantification of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium inflows from conventional farming to organic farming. Material inflows and outflows were collected for two cropping years on 63 farms. The farms were located in three French agricultural districts distributed over a gradient of farming activity defined by both the stocking rate and the ratio of the farm area under arable crops. Our results showed that on average, inflows from conventional farming were 23%, 73% and 53% for nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, respectively. These inflows were strongly determined by the farm production systems. However, for farms similar in terms of production systems, the inflows also depended on the local context, such as the proximity of organic livestock farms: the reliance of organic farming on conventional farming was lower in mixed than in specialized districts. These results highlight the necessity to quantify the contribution of nutrient inflows from conventional farming when assessing organic farming and development scenarios.

Nutrient recycling in organic farming is related to diversity in farm types at the local level

“…Setting up new means of communication among farmers may help to create new cycling patterns and thus to foster nutrient recycling. Finally, due to the key role of nutrient management and supply for organic farming systems (David et al, 2005), organic farms tend to act as sinks for nutrients and to import large amount of nutrients from other farms, in particular, from conventional farms (Nowak et al, 2013b), thus limiting the number of cycling patterns. This was the case in the crop district where organic farms collected 16 times more P from other farms than they released to these farms (Fig.…”

Nitrogen soil surface balance of organic vs conventional cash crop farming in the Seine watershed

“…When the leaching rate is expressed per unit of output, results are more mixed, slightly lower leaching rate in favor of OF (Benoit et al, 2014), non-significant differences (Mondelaers et al, 2009;Kirchmann and Bergström, 2001), or disfavor OF (Korsaeth, 2008). (ii) Soil fertility (Stockdale et al, 2002) and long-term sustainability related to the dependence of organic systems to nutrients coming from the conventional agro-industry, through imported feedstuffs, beeding, manure, meat-and-bone meals, beetpulp residues … (Nowak et al, 2013;Goulding et al, 2009). (iii) Productivity of organic farming systems with contrasted results depending on whether individual crops or full rotations are compared (Connor, 2013;Kirchmann et al, 2008;Ponisio et al, 2015;Seufert et al, 2012).…”

The Dynamism of Eco-Organic Food Products , Consumer Intentions for Purchasing

“…Studies have analyzed the productivity in terms of per unit area in case of organic cultivation (9,14). Eco-natural organic farming is more resilient and have higher yield stability (10,11).…”