Organic growing yields 20% less than conventional
To try and settle the question various studies have been carried out over the years. The aim is usually to compare yield results from organic farming with those produced by conventional methods. Results tend to show great variance with some suggesting organic methods can generate more than conventional methods, by up to 20% in some cases, and others suggesting that conventional farming produces 50% more.
The meta-study, a recent study, is the first large scale study to exclusively use only data of the highest quality.
Relevant databases were screened with a view to extracting comparisons in crop yield results. The data used covered 68 different crop types from 42 different countries.
The conclusion of the study was that, on average, organically grown produce produces yields in the vicinity of 20% less than conventional methods. However, where conventional farming is well developed and to high standards, such as in the Netherlands and Denmark, the gap widens even further, to around 26% higher than organic yields.
The researchers, however, do stipulate that, yields aside, there are still reasons for growing organic produce.
Not least of these is the chance that organic farming development will provide the know-how to help conventional agriculture to become cleaner and more sustainable.
At the moment though, on the basis of these results, the researchers conclude that if organic farming methods are used, more land is needed to produce the same amount of food.
Source: www.physorg.com
