Currently, only one percent of global agricultural farmland is farmed organically. After researchers reviewed forty years of studies comparing organic and conventional agriculture, they concluded that organic farming should play a much more significant role in growing food in the future.
Organic crop yields are generally lower than conventional yields. However organic outperforms conventional farming under adverse conditions, such as droughts (which are expected to become more frequent and severe). Despite the lower yields, organic farms are often more profitable than conventional due to premium prices and lower input costs.
Organic agriculture also has other environmental benefits such as greater energy efficiency, greater biodiversity, storage of more soil carbon and less soil erosion, less water and soil pollution and lower emissions of greenhouse gases. The authors suggest part of the answer to the global food shortages is better distribution of food and less food waste.
As for agriculture of the future — organics alone isn’t the answer, they recommend, “a blend of organic and other innovative farming systems, including agroforestry, integrated farming, conservation agriculture, mixed crop/livestock and still undiscovered systems."
Source: Organic agriculture in the twenty-first century. John P. Reganold & Jonathan M. Wachter. Nature Plants. 2 (15221). 2016.
- Janet Wallace