Permaculture Research Digest

Thursday 13 February 2014

Environmental impact of conventional vs. organic (#journal)

Environmental Impact of Different Agricultural Management Practices: Conventional vs. Organic Agriculture

This paper carries out a comparative review of the environmental performances of organic agriculture versus conventional farming. Under organic management soil loss is greatly reduced and soil organic matter content increases, soil biochemical and ecological characteristics appear improved, soils have a much higher water holding capacity and higher ability to store carbon in the soil, and organic farming systems  harbor a larger floral and faunal biodiversity than conventional systems. Organic agriculture has a higher energy efficiency (input/output) but, on average, exhibits lower yields and hence reduced productivity compared to conventional systems.

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