Abstract
Organic agriculture is proposed as a promising approach to achieving sustainable food systems, but its feasibility is also contested. We use a food systems model that addresses agronomic characteristics of organic agriculture to analyse the role that organic agriculture could play in sustainable food systems. Here we show, that a 100% conversion to organic agriculture needs more land than conventional agriculture but reduces N-surplus and pesticide use. However, in combination with reductions of food wastage and food-competing feed from arable land, with correspondingly reduced production and consumption of animal products, land use under organic agriculture remains below the reference scenario. Other indicators such as greenhouse gas emissions also improve, but adequate nitrogen supply is challenging. Besides focusing on production, sustainable food systems need to address waste, crop-grass-livestock interdependencies and human consumption. None of the corresponding strategies needs full implementation and their combined partial implementation delivers a more sustainable food future.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 1290 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Nature Communications |
Volume | 8 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 14 Nov 2017 |
Keywords
- agriculture
- environmental impact
- sustainability
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Profiles
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Pete Smith
- Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences
- Biological Sciences, Aberdeen Centre For Environmental Sustainability - Chair in Plant & Soil Science
Person: Academic