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  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj@bellsouth.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permaculture] Fwd: [SANET-MG] yield of conventional vs organic farms
  • Date: Thu, 10 May 2012 02:44:20 -0400

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [SANET-MG] yield of conventional vs organic farms
Date: Wed, 9 May 2012 23:13:03 -0400
From: jcummins <jcummins@UWO.CA>
To: SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU

I expect that the report will be quoted a lot. There may be selection
bias in the studies selected.
Nature. 2012 Apr 25. doi: 10.1038/nature11069.
Comparing the yields of organic and conventional agriculture.
Seufert V, Ramankutty N, Foley JA.

Numerous reports have emphasized the need for major changes in the
global food system: agriculture must meet the twin challenge of feeding
a growing population, with rising demand for meat and high-calorie
diets, while simultaneously minimizing its global environmental impacts.
Organic farming-a system aimed at producing food with minimal harm to
ecosystems, animals or humans-is often proposed as a solution. However,
critics argue that organic agriculture may have lower yields and would
therefore need more land to produce the same amount of food as
conventional farms, resulting in more widespread deforestation and
biodiversity loss, and thus undermining the environmental benefits of
organic practices. Here we use a comprehensive meta-analysis to examine
the relative yield performance of organic and conventional farming
systems globally. Our analysis of available data shows that, overall,
organic yields are typically lower than conventional yields. But these
yield differences are highly contextual, depending on system and site
characteristics, and range from 5% lower organic yields (rain-fed
legumes and perennials on weak-acidic to weak-alkaline soils), 13% lower yields (when best organic practices are used), to 34% lower yields (when the conventional and organic systems are most comparable). Under certain conditions-that is, with good management practices, particular crop types and growing conditions-organic systems can thus nearly match conventional yields, whereas under others it at present cannot. To establish organic agriculture as an important tool in sustainable food production, the factors limiting organic yields need to be more fully understood, alongside assessments of the many social, environmental and economic benefits of organic farming systems.




  • [permaculture] Fwd: [SANET-MG] yield of conventional vs organic farms, Lawrence F. London, Jr., 05/10/2012

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