Environmental, energetic, and economic comparisons of organic and conventional farming systems
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.
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Maintaining the same fertilizer and soil-preparation practices in conventional farming leads to low soil moisture and low conservation levels.
“Scientific results (Pimentel et al., 2005) have shown that this maintenance of these practices lead to low soil moisture status and low conservation levels of conventional farming systems.”
From How energy innovation in indoor vertical farming can improve food security, sustainability, and food safety? (2020) · cites this paper as Pimentel et al., 2005
The Results report significantly less soil water in the conventional system than in the organic legume system during the measured growing seasons. The Discussion also reports greater water conservation and less runoff in the organic systems. The paper does not establish that continuing the same fertilizer and soil-preparation practices caused those differences. (LLM, conf=0.85)
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- Authors
- PIMENTEL, D., HEPPERLY, P., HANSON, J., DOUDS, D., & SEIDEL, R.
- Affiliations
- Rodale Institute (US)
- Venue
- BioScience
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2005
- Volume
- 55
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 573
- ISSN
- 0006-3568 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2180630498
- Cited by
- 1,261
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 44 · 2024: 52 · 2023: 41 · 2022: 36 · 2021: 69 · 2020: 80 · 2019: 71 · 2018: 68 · 2017: 90 · 2016: 70 · 2015: 83 · 2014: 89 · 2013: 85 · 2012: 81
- FWCI
- 37.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- BioScience (publishedVersion)
- BioOne Complete (BioOne) (submittedVersion)
- VTechWorks (Virginia Tech) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- South Dakota State University
- National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
- Academia Sinica
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Organic Food and Agriculture
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Sustainable Agricultural Systems Analysis
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › General Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant and soil sciences
- Keywords
- organic farming, conventional farming, sustainable agriculture, soil organic matter, soil nitrogen, crop yield, soil moisture conservation, water conservation, drought, economic comparison, energy comparison, environmental impact
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