Summary
This global meta-analysis examined whether organic farming systems reliably deliver on multiple sustainability dimensions, finding that organic farms promote environmental benefits (higher biotic abundance, richness, and soil carbon) with low variability, but experience greater yield variability than conventional systems. Despite lower average yields, organic systems achieved similar profitability to conventional farms due to premium pricing, suggesting that certification guidelines successfully ensure reliable environmental benefits whilst ecological process dependence reduces production predictability.
UK applicability
The findings are relevant to UK farming policy and practice, particularly regarding the trade-off between environmental goals (where organic systems excel) and food security through yield stability. UK policymakers and farmers considering organic certification should account for the documented yield variability risk, though the profitability findings (based on organic premiums) may be context-dependent on UK market conditions.
Key measures
Biotic abundance; biotic richness; soil organic carbon; soil carbon stocks; crop yield; total production costs; profitability; yield variability; environmental metric variability
Outcomes reported
The study compared seven sustainability metrics (biotic abundance, biotic richness, soil organic carbon, soil carbon stocks, crop yield, production costs, and profitability) between organic and conventional farming systems globally. It assessed both mean effects and variability in these metrics to understand reliability of sustainability provisioning.
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