{"id":34767,"date":"2024-03-13T00:01:10","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T04:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?p=34767"},"modified":"2024-03-13T11:01:43","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T15:01:43","slug":"study-shows-organic-agriculture-mitigates-climate-crisis-in-contrast-to-conventional-agriculture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2024\/03\/study-shows-organic-agriculture-mitigates-climate-crisis-in-contrast-to-conventional-agriculture\/","title":{"rendered":"Study Shows Organic Agriculture Mitigates Climate Crisis in Contrast to Conventional Agriculture"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Beyond Pesticides<\/em>, March 13, 2024) A comprehensive study released in Journal of Cleaner Production<\/em><\/a> in August 2023 identifies the potential for organic agriculture to mitigate the impacts of agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the fight to address the climate crisis. In \u201cThe spatial distribution of agricultural emissions in the United States: The role of organic farming in mitigating climate change,\u201d <\/em>the authors determine that \u201ca one percent increase in total farmland results in a 0.13 percent increase in GHG emissions, while a one percent increase in organic cropland and pasture leads to a decrease in emissions by about 0.06 percent and 0.007 percent, respectively.\u201d This descriptive study affirms the urgency of Beyond Pesticides\u2019 mission to ban toxic petrochemical pesticides by 2032, given the projected adverse impacts that conventional agricultural dependence on these toxic pesticides will continue to have on people, wildlife, and ecosystems.<\/p>\n

The study refers to various studies focused on a comparative analysis of conventional to organic farming on energy use, greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe), nutrient leaching, soil quality, and biodiversity. The consensus is that organic farming is more sustainable than conventional agriculture. For example, \u201c[S]everal studies comparing conventional to organic agriculture found that the latter used 10%\u201370% less energy per unit of land for all analyzed crops.\u201d However, measurements on a meta-analysis of soil quality and biodiversity show \u201csignificant variability across studies with 16% of them showing a negative effect of organic farming on species richness.\u201d Drawing on this past research, the authors of this study accomplish what the previous research could not: \u201cprovide categorical supporting evidence… for the general expectation that organic farming is more environmentally sustainable than conventional farming.\u201d<\/p>\n

These researchers used U.S. state-level data from 1997 to 2010, excluding the years 1998, 1999, and 2009 due to bad data. Additionally, researchers drew GHGe data from the World Resources Institute, economic data (e.g. \u201creal per capita GDP (in chained 2009 dollars), output share for utilities, manufacturing, oil and natural gas, and transportation\u201d as a percentage of state GDP) from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce. Additional data was gathered from the U.S. Department of Transportation\u2019s Federal Highway Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s Economic Research Service, and the U.S. Census Bureau.<\/p>\n

To determine a statistical relationship between GHGe and organic farming in the U.S., the researchers use a model based on the STIRPAT (Stochastic Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology) approach. Researchers summarize the benefits of this analytical method, \u201cGiven the importance of transportation to farming, this would help examine whether the potential environmental benefits of organic food production, if any, are substantial enough to outweigh the environmental harm of transportation output embodied in organic farming.\u201d \u00a0See Subsection 3.2 under Methods<\/a> for a full breakdown of the empirical specifications of their methodology.<\/p>\n

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The spatial distribution (as seen above in Figure 2<\/a>) of the statistical comparison between conventional and organic agricultural across all fifty states amounts to three overarching findings:<\/p>\n

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  1. \u201cThe spatial distribution of agricultural GHG emissions in the United States is uneven<\/strong>: High-emissions states are concentrated in the Great Plains extending south to NM and the southeastern area of the United States. Meanwhile, low-emissions states are in California and the northeastern region extending to MI in the north and MD in the south.\n<\/li>\n
  2. Agriculture is a significant contributor to GDP within the high-emissions states, but organic agriculture represents<\/strong> only a small proportion of total farmland<\/strong>: The contribution of agriculture to GDP in high-emissions Great Plains states ranges from 1.11% to 5.94%, while organic agriculture as a share of total farmland ranges from 0.02% to 0.33%. In the southeastern states, the contribution of agriculture to GDP ranges from 0.39% to 1.41%, and organic agriculture ranges from 0.003% to 0.005%.\n<\/li>\n
  3. Agriculture has a substantially lower contribution to GDP within low-emissions states, but organic agriculture represents a large proportion of total farmland<\/strong>: The contribution of agriculture to GDP ranges from 0.063% to 0.95%, while organic farming as a share of total farmland ranges from 0.14% to 3.13%.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Years of reporting by Beyond Pesticides corroborates the findings in the study that organic agriculture<\/a> is a monitorable and critical solution to address cascading crises relating to climate change<\/a> and public health. Rodale Institute\u2019s Farming Systems Trial \u2013 40-Year Report<\/a> highlights the success of regenerative organic agriculture:<\/p>\n