Study: More greenhouse gases from organic farming

If England and Wales were to convert to 100 percent organic farming, it would damage the climate. This is the conclusion reached by British scientists. Is conventional agriculture the better alternative? What the Bund Ökologische Lebensmittelwirtschaft (German Organic Food Association) says about this.

In their study The greenhouse gas impacts of converting food production in England and Wales to organic methods, Laurence Smith and his team from the University of Cranfield in the UK calculated what would happen if agriculture in England and Wales were to be converted to 100 percent organic farming. Their result: greenhouse gas emissions would decrease in relation to the area farmed. But yields would fall by up to 40 percent.

Conversion of grassland into arable land required

To make up for this, more food would have to be imported, and the necessary land would have to be created elsewhere, for example by converting grassland into arable land. This makes the balance negative. This is not even changed by the additional storage of carbon dioxide in humus by organic farming. In their press release captioned “100% organic farming could increase greenhouse gas emissions“, the researches explicitly point out that their study assumed that diets would remain the same.

Livestock devours 60 percent of grain

A comment by the organic association BÖLW focuses on the indispensable change in consumption. They stated that the scientists had once again assumed wrong conditions – namely that nothing would change in our consumption and food waste habits. Currently, animal husbandry in the industrial countries devours 60 percent of the harvested grain. The BÖLW argues that a reduction in meat consumption is therefore and absolute prerequisite for sustainable agriculture.

With a 100 percent conversion to organic agriculture, the prices for meat and other animal products would rise significantly due to the higher production costs. The BÖLW points out that it has been shown on several accounts that what automatically follows from higher prices is a significantly lower consumption of meat and suchlike. Models not taking this into account ignore the regulatory mechanisms of the market.

Industrial agriculture not a model for the future

The BÖLW adds that without a change in diet, industrial agriculture will not be able to function in the long term. While it produces very high yields for a certain amount of time, it damages the resources such as biodiversity, soil fertility, water and climate necessary for future food production.

Additionally, reducing food waste at all levels benefits human nutrition and climate protection, argues the BÖLW. This is true regardless of the production method – conventional or organic – of the food.

Criticism on the numbers

In addition to the points above, more criticism of the BÖLW focuses on the numbers used for the expected yield declines in the paper. It is true that by British standards, 40 percent less yield may be realistic for some organic crops. Worldwide, however, this figure is much lower on average. This is a valid point which is also mentioned by the researchers. However, this is not relevant for the British study, as the researchers did not make a worldwide model, but focused only on the UK. They assumed that the in their calculation necessary higher imports come almost exclusively from other European countries with intensive agriculture.

Conclusion

To conclude: 100 percent organic only works if we change our diet and drastically reduce animal-based products. This is the only way agriculture can be sustainable at all.

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