**6.2 Organic agriculture**

In the developed world, which already practices intensive agriculture, a popular alternative to conventional methods is organic cultivation. In a major comparison between organic and conventional cultivation, Gomiero, Pimentel, & Paoletti (2011) provide the following definition. "Organic agriculture refers to a farming system that enhances soil fertility through maximizing the efficient use of local resources, while foregoing the use of agrochemicals, the use of GMOs, as well as that of many synthetic compounds used as food additives. Organic agriculture relies on a number of farming practices based on ecological cycles, and aims at minimizing the environmental impact of the food industry, preserving the long term sustainability of soil and reducing to a minimum the use of nonrenewable resources."

Some commentators flatly state that organic agriculture cannot feed the world. Gomiero et al. (2011), however, offer a more complex picture, which is framed by the difficulty in making apt comparisons between conventional and organic agriculture. Studies differ in how they define system boundaries, e.g., including or excluding indirect energy costs, leading to wide divergence in resulting estimates. Further, most such studies focus on single crops and analyze data for just a few years. Whereas conventional agriculture increasingly relies on monocultures, organic agriculture flourishes by rotating and varying crops over multi-year cycles. Moreover, long-term trends, especially on soil fertility—in which the two systems exhibit opposite effects—do not emerge in short-duration investigations. The authors document that organic agriculture is superior on virtually every aspect of environmental performance, particularly energy efficiency. Productivity data are mixed, with yields generally higher for conventional agriculture by perhaps 20%, but with differences between developed countries, where organic yields tend to be lower, and developing countries, where they tend to be higher. Given what is now decades of research and investment in conventional agriculture, the likelihood that organic yields could become equal or better given comparable investment of resources deserves serious consideration.

same area of land while reducing negative environmental impacts and increasing contributions to natural capital and the flow of environmental services." A key element of this is agroecology, particularly practiced by small producers in developing countries, as advocated by the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD, 2009). De Schutter & Vanloqueren (2011) provide a brief for agroecology with the following definition. "Agroecology is the application of ecological science to the study, design, and management of sustainable agriculture. It seeks to mimic natural ecological processes, and it emphasizes the importance of improving the entire agricultural system, not just the plant." Following ecological principles, agroecology seeks to recycle biomass and nutrients; enhance organic matter deposition to build soil; carefully manage resources of sun, water, and nutrients; enhance biological and genetic diversity; and encourage beneficial biological synergies while minimizing pesticides. De Schutter and Vanloqueren provide sample cases of successful implementation in the developing world, identify obstacles to wider implementation (including marginalization of the targeted small-scale farmers by past policies), and articulate policies for scaling up these innovations. By following ecological principles, agroecology seeks to minimize inputs and recycle nutrients, thus greatly reducing fossil

In the developed world, which already practices intensive agriculture, a popular alternative to conventional methods is organic cultivation. In a major comparison between organic and conventional cultivation, Gomiero, Pimentel, & Paoletti (2011) provide the following definition. "Organic agriculture refers to a farming system that enhances soil fertility through maximizing the efficient use of local resources, while foregoing the use of agrochemicals, the use of GMOs, as well as that of many synthetic compounds used as food additives. Organic agriculture relies on a number of farming practices based on ecological cycles, and aims at minimizing the environmental impact of the food industry, preserving the long term sustainability of soil and reducing to a minimum the use of non-

Some commentators flatly state that organic agriculture cannot feed the world. Gomiero et al. (2011), however, offer a more complex picture, which is framed by the difficulty in making apt comparisons between conventional and organic agriculture. Studies differ in how they define system boundaries, e.g., including or excluding indirect energy costs, leading to wide divergence in resulting estimates. Further, most such studies focus on single crops and analyze data for just a few years. Whereas conventional agriculture increasingly relies on monocultures, organic agriculture flourishes by rotating and varying crops over multi-year cycles. Moreover, long-term trends, especially on soil fertility—in which the two systems exhibit opposite effects—do not emerge in short-duration investigations. The authors document that organic agriculture is superior on virtually every aspect of environmental performance, particularly energy efficiency. Productivity data are mixed, with yields generally higher for conventional agriculture by perhaps 20%, but with differences between developed countries, where organic yields tend to be lower, and developing countries, where they tend to be higher. Given what is now decades of research and investment in conventional agriculture, the likelihood that organic yields could become equal or better given comparable investment of resources deserves serious consideration.

fuel inputs and improving sustainability.

**6.2 Organic agriculture** 

renewable resources."

The Rodale Institute, long a leader in research on organic agriculture, recently issued a report on its 30-year study comparing conventional and organic cultivation (Rodale, 2011). The report documents comparable yields between the two systems, with fewer inputs, lower carbon emissions, and higher profitability from the organic fields. While some of the higher financial returns depend on the market premium paid for organic crops, the large profit disparity (organic: \$224/ha/year; conventional: \$60/ha/year) implies that much of the difference comes from the much lower cost of inputs. Although the contribution of organic agriculture is growing rapidly, critics point out that organic cultivation still accounts for only about 1% of U.S. production. Moreover, as pointed out by Pollan (2006, p. 184), "Big Organic" cultivation (eschewing synthetic fertilizer, pesticides, and GMOs, but not industrialized production methods) is not necessarily sustainable or free of concerns about fossil fuel scarcity: "As in so many other realms, nature's logic has proven no match for the logic of capitalism, one in which cheap energy has always been a given. And so, today, the organic food industry finds itself in a most unexpected, uncomfortable, and, yes, unsustainable position: floating on a sinking sea of petroleum."

A case study in agriculture after Peak Oil comes from the Cuban experience in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union, which eliminated both the source of almost all of its oil imports and also markets for Cuban agriculture. Wright (2009) has studied this example and documented the dramatic shift to organic methods. The example may be imperfect, because Cuba's isolation from global markets and industrial inputs are unique historically, but it does indicate the ability of organic agriculture and ample labor to produce an adequate food supply with minimal fossil fuel inputs.
