Can Organic Farming Feed the World? | ORGANIC SCIENCE

A study by Badgley et al. (2006) reveals that organic farming can produce enough food to sustain the current global population—and potentially an even larger one—without expanding agricultural land. This week's #OrganicScience highlights how organic farming could meet global food demands by comparing organic yields versus conventional or low-intensive food production from a dataset of 293 examples.

The research shows promising results that challenge the notion that conventional farming is the only way to feed a growing population. The study's findings indicate that, for most food categories, the average yield ratio of organic to non-organic production is just under 1.0 in developed countries and above 1.0 in developing countries.

This means that organic farming can match or even exceed the productivity of conventional methods, especially in regions where food security is a pressing issue. By modeling the global food supply that could be grown organically on the current agricultural land base, the researchers demonstrated that organic methods are capable of producing enough food on a global per capita basis.

Furthermore, the study explores the potential of leguminous cover crops to fix nitrogen, a crucial nutrient for plant growth, thereby eliminating the need for synthetic fertilizers. Data from temperate and tropical agroecosystems suggest that these cover crops could provide enough nitrogen to replace synthetic fertilizers entirely.

This not only supports sustainable farming practices but also reduces the environmental impact of agriculture. With these findings, the research makes a compelling case for the scalability and sustainability of organic farming as a viable solution to global food security challenges.

FULL RESEARCH PAPER