Organic Agriculture, Food Security, and the Environment

TLDR

Organic agriculture is often perceived as more sustainable than conventional farming. The authors conduct a global literature review on organic agriculture. While organic farming reduces pollution per land area, it yields less per output, occupies only 1 % of global land, and scaling up would increase habitat loss, raise prices, and threaten food security, so it is not a standalone solution but could complement conventional methods for sustainable productivity.

Abstract

Organic agriculture is often perceived as more sustainable than conventional farming. We review the literature on this topic from a global perspective. In terms of environmental and climate change effects, organic farming is less polluting than conventional farming when measured per unit of land but not when measured per unit of output. Organic farming, which currently accounts for only 1% of global agricultural land, is lower yielding on average. Due to higher knowledge requirements, observed yield gaps might further increase if a larger number of farmers would switch to organic practices. Widespread upscaling of organic agriculture would cause additional loss of natural habitats and also entail output price increases, making food less affordable for poor consumers in developing countries. Organic farming is not the paradigm for sustainable agriculture and food security, but smart combinations of organic and conventional methods could contribute toward sustainable productivity increases in global agriculture.