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BioScience 55(7):573-582. 2005
doi: 10.1641/0006-3568(2005)055[0573:EEAECO]2.0.CO;2

Environmental, Energetic, and Economic Comparisons of Organic and Conventional Farming Systems

DAVID PIMENTEL, PAUL HEPPERLY, JAMES HANSON, DAVID DOUDS, and RITA SEIDEL

David Pimentel () works in the Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853

Paul Hepperly and Rita Seidel are with the Rodale Institute, 611 Siegfriedale Road, Kutztown, PA 19530

James Hanson works in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742

David Douds is with the USDA Agricultural Research Service, Eastern Regional Research Center, 600 E. Mermaid Lane, Wyndmoor, PA 19038

Abstract

Various organic technologies have been utilized for about 6000 years to make agriculture sustainable while conserving soil, water, energy, and biological resources. Among the benefits of organic technologies are higher soil organic matter and nitrogen, lower fossil energy inputs, yields similar to those of conventional systems, and conservation of soil moisture and water resources (especially advantageous under drought conditions). Conventional agriculture can be made more sustainable and ecologically sound by adopting some traditional organic farming technologies.

Keywords: organic, agriculture, conventional



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Figure 1. Average energy inputs for corn and soybeans (in millions of kilocalories per hectare per year) in the three systems used in the Rodale Institute Farming Systems Trial from 1991 to 2000: organic animal-based cropping, organic legume-based cropping, and conventional cropping.

Figure 2. Average net returns per hectare (ha) for a 400-ha farm for the organic legume and conventional grain rotations in the Rodale Institute Farming Systems Trial from 1991 to 2001. NR I = revenue minus explicit costs; NR II = NR I minus transitional costs; NR III = NR II minus all labor costs. Source: Hanson and Musser (2003).

Figure 3. Percentage of soil carbon (above) and nitrogen (below) for the three systems of the Rodale Institute Farming Systems Trial in 1981 and 2002 (organic animal-based cropping, organic legume-based cropping, and conventional cropping). Different letters indicate statistically significant differences according to Duncan's multiple range test; p < 0.05. NSD = not significantly different.

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