I’ve been catching up on my ag news and came across a series of articles about a new report from Britain’s Soil Association.
According to their 18-month study, if all UK farmland went organic, the carbon savings would be equivalent to taking nearly one million cars off the road.
A Reuters report on the study notes that, on average, organic farming produces 28 percent higher levels of soil carbon compared with non-organic farming in northern Europe.
“The widespread adoption of organic farming practices in the UK would offset 23 percent of UK agricultural emissions through soil carbon sequestration alone, more than doubling the UK government’s pathetically low target of a 6-11 percent reduction by 2020,” the Soil Association said.
“A worldwide switch to organic farming could offset 11 percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions,” the organic group added.
These are interesting stats, but they don’t take into account the benefits of efficiency and the maximized yield from modern, large-scale farming.
To keep up with food demands, we’d have to have a lot more farms. And one expert in the Reuters story noted that any carbon benefit we may see from going fully organic could be offset by having to plow up more land in other areas.
Read the full report from the Soil Association here.
Virtual Farmgirl 