A global conversion to organic farming can contribute to a profoundly sustainable food system, provided that it is combined with further measures, specifically with a one-third reduction of animal-based products in the human diet, less concentrated feed and less food waste. At the same time, this type of food system has extremely positive ecological effects, i.e. considerable reduction of fertilizers and pesticides, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions – and does not lead to increased land use, despite lower agricultural yields. These are the findings of a new study, which included the Vienna-based Department of Social Ecology among its contributors. Results have recently been published in “Nature Communications”.
A global conversion to organic farming can contribute to a profoundly sustainable food system, provided that it is combined with further measures, specifically with a one-third reduction of animal-based products in the human diet, less concentrated feed and less food waste. At the same time, this type of food system has extremely positive ecological effects, i.e. considerable reduction of fertilizers and pesticides, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions – and does not lead to increased land use, despite lower agricultural yields. These are the findings of a new study, which included the Vienna-based Department of Social Ecology among its contributors. Results have recently been published in “Nature Communications”.
The available evidence indicates that the negative consequences of agriculture on the environment will continue to increase dramatically leading up to the year 2050, should the forecasts by the World Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) prove to be true and should current trends persist unbated. For this purpose, the FAO assumes a population in excess of 9 billion people and an increase in nutrition habits requiring high volumes of resources such as water, energy and land, as is the case with a high level of meat consumption.
“Organic agriculture involves the careful handling of the environment and resources and is frequently put forward as a potential solution to the challenges we are currently facing. On the other hand, critics point out that this shift to organic methods would entail a much higher level of land use and therefore cannot be considered as a viable alternative”, one of the study’s authors, Karlheinz Erb (Department of Social Ecology at the AAU) explains.
Read more at Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt | Graz | Wien
Photo credit: Elina Mark via Wikimedia Commons
