Organic Agriculture mitigates climate change:
It reduces greenhouse
gases, especially nitrous oxide, as no chemical nitrogen fertilizers are used
and nutrient losses are minimized.
It stores carbon in soil and plant biomass by
building organic matter, encouraging agro-forestry and forbidding the clearance
of primary ecosystems.
It minimizes energy consumption by 30-70% per
unit of land by eliminating the energy required to manufacture synthetic
fertilizers, and by using internal farm inputs, thus reducing fuel used for
transportation.
Organic Agriculture helps farmers adapt
to climate change:
It prevents nutrient and water
loss through high organic matter content and soil covers, thus making soils
more resilient to floods, droughts and land degradation processes.
It preserves seed and
crop diversity which increases crop resistance to pests and disease.
Maintenance of diversity also helps farmers evolve new cropping systems to
adapt to climatic changes.
It minimizes risk as a
result of stable agro-ecosystems and yields, and lower production costs.
Conventional agriculture contributes to climate change:
It uses synthetic fertilizers and
pesticides that require significant amounts of energy to manufacture
It applies excessive amounts of nitrogen
fertilizer that is released as nitrous oxide
It operates intensive livestock holdings that
overproduce manure and methane
It relies on external, soy-based animal feed that
requires large amounts of fuel to travel thousands of kilometers to reach the
farm
It mines the earth of the nutrients needed to
sustain production thereby leading to the clearing of rainforest and “slash and
burn” techniques that reduce carbon storage and release huge amounts of carbon
dioxide from burning vegetation.