farmers converting to organic farming, produce less greenhouse gases. Organic is better for the climate, is it? May not. Because At the end of a lot of or even more emissions are still the same, as if they would produce with conventional methods. Why this is so, scientists from Cranfield University in the UK investigated, and the results in the journal Nature Communications published.
the Team of agricultural economists Laurence Smith calculated how much greenhouse gases would arise if England and Wales would completely switch to organic farming. The result: The emissions of CO2, methane and nitrous oxide in agriculture declining to 20 percent, the emissions in the Livestock sector to four per cent.
And now comes the big But: the yield of The organically farmed fields would be about a 40 percent lower. In order to compensate for this, we would need more arable land. Or is it more food would have to be imported. If a quarter of the required agricultural area of green won the country and the lack of food would be imported, would be the organic farming about the same climate-harmful to the environment as a conventional management. The Organic energy saved CO2-Equivalents were elsewhere.
to be Running in Switzerland, exactly the same
The differences are large, especially because organic farming foregoes synthetic fertilizer. The nitrogen that a Plant needs to Grow, gets you to an organic farm from compost, biomass from Preculture, manure and slurry. An adapted crop rotation could increase the income, but the loss of Production not aufwägen, as the authors write.
organic farming is less productive, it can absorb but also, for example, more carbon from the air and bind. The additional emissions due to the Import not be able to compensate but.
The new study explicitly refers to the United Kingdom, the results are also valid for the local agriculture. “In Switzerland, the same mechanisms are at work,” says Adrian Müller from the research Institute of organic agriculture (FiBL) in Frick. “The emissions would decrease in the domestic, abroad is on the rise.”
Better basic water, greater species diversity
Quite agree the science is not, however. There are several studies that have emerged at the greenhouse gas emissions of organic foods, some of which come to different conclusions. The results have a large bandwidth, “in their totality, but a good Overview,” says Müller. The bottom line is they came to the conclusion that organic farming per kilogram of product is causing more greenhouse gases than conventional agriculture, which depends strongly distinguished from the Income.
Brings Bio-climate so there’s nothing? Not quite. Organic farming has some advantages. It protects, for example, the ground water and promotes the biodiversity. The consumer would also change your eating habits, would be the Organic farming in the emission balance is much more rewarding, the English scientist.
For the most emissions, the Livestock industry is causing. This means that the consumer would have to consume less meat and more food like potatoes and beans. Adrian Müller confirms this: “With consumption change could also produce with high amounts of organic, climate-friendly,” he says.
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