Under European conditions, organic agriculture performs better
than conventional agriculture with regard to certain parameters: for example, 30 to 100 percent higher microbial activity3 and a significantly higher biomass (+30 to 40 percent), density (+ 50 to 80 percent) and species diversity of earthworms, a key soil - macro faunal species4.
Organic agriculture performs better
than conventional agriculture on a per hectare scale, both with respect to direct energy consumption (fuel and oil) and indirect consumption (synthetic fertilizers and pesticides).
According to the video Soil: The Secret Solution to Global Warming, land farmed organically, using such methods as «no - till» and the planting of winter cover crops, absorbs and holds up to 30 % more
carbon than conventional agriculture.
Crowder, lead author and assistant professor of entomology at Washington State University, says he and Reganold became interested in the topic after reading a study several years ago that indicated that organic farming produces a lower crop
yield than conventional agriculture.
«We knew going into this that organic agriculture is less productive in terms of crop yields
than conventional agriculture,» Crowder says.
«We knew going into this that organic agriculture is less productive in terms of crop yields
than conventional agriculture,» researcher David Crowder told the Post.
Even though the ban on synthetic pesticides might lead to higher fuel consumption on organic farms due to increased mechanical weed control13, research results presented below show that with respect to energy consumption, organic agriculture is performing better
than conventional agriculture.