Strengths and weaknesses of organic farming in the - NJF

Strengths and weaknesses of
organic farming in the context
of sustainability
Urs Niggli
www.fibl.org of sustainability

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Contents
Challenges ahead of agriculture and food
production.
Performance of state-of-the-art organic
agriculture.
Weaknesses of organic agriculture
Potentials of organic agriculture and
research gaps.

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FiBL, active in organic research since 1974
125 staff in Switzerland
15 staff in Germany
15 staff in Austria

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60 % of ecosystem services degraded
Wind and water erosion,
SOM mineralization
Loss of natural biodiversity,
regulating and supporting services,
e.g. pollinators
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005
Deteriorated drinking
water, irrigation

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Food security and climate change

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Co-benefits of organic farming
Nitrate pollution reduced by 35 to 65 %.
‘No’ herbicide and pesticide residues in soils,
water and foods.
Strongly reduced soil erosion or even restored
carbon storage by using leguminous plants,
green manure and recycling livestock manure.
Higher diversity on farm, field, species and crop
genetics level.
Improved water use efficiency in drought periods.
Reduced fossil fuel use.

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Review papers
• Stolze, M., A. Piorr, A. Häring and S. Dabbert (2000). The environmental
impacts of organic farming in Europe. Organic farming in Europe, Volume
6, University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim, Stuttgart
• El-Hage Scialabba, N. and Hattam, C. (2002).Organic agriculture,
environment and food security. Environment and Natural Resources Series
No. 4, FAO. Rome, 258 pp.
• Mäder, P., Fliessbach, A., Dubois, D, Gunst, L., Fried P. and Niggli, U.
(2002). Soil fertility and biodiversity in organic farming. Science 296, p.
1694-1697.
• Hole D G, Perkins A J, Wilson J D, Alexander I H, Grice P V and Evans A
D (2005). Does organic farming benefit biodiversity? Biological
Conservation 122, 113-130.
• Niggli, U., Slabe, A., Schmid, O., Halberg, N. and Schlüter, M. (2008).
Vision for an Organic Food and Farming Research Agenda to 2025.
Published by the IFOAM EU Group and FiBL. 48 pages.

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Biodiversity on organic farms (global
literature review of comparison studies)
Taxon Positive Negative
No
difference
Birds 7 2
Mammals 2
Butterflies 1 1
Spiders 7 3
Earthworms 7 2 4
Beetles 13 5 3
Other arthropods 7 1 2
Plants 13 2
Soil microbes 9 8
Total 66 8 25
Hole et al., 2005

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Biodiversity as part of the production method

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Biodiversity and landscape

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DOK long term comparision experiment,
Therwil/Switzerland
• running since 1978
• 7 year crop rotation (P-WW-Veg-WW-WB-GC-GC)
• 0 – bio dynamic - organic - IP - conventional
• Loess soil, 833 mm precipitation, 9.4 ºC temperature

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Performance of farming systems (DOK trial)
Yields (3 x 7 years)
Erträge
Nutrients efficiency
Düngereffizienz (N,P,K)
Energy efficiency
Energieeffizienz
Soil percolation stability
Perkolationsstabilität
Soil aggregate stability
Krümelstabilität
Abundance of beneficials
Häufigkeit von Nützlingen
Earthworm biomass
Biomasse von Regenwürmern
Microbial biomass
Mikrobielle Biomasse
Enzyme activities
Bodenenzyme
Mycorrhiza
Symbiontische Mykorrhizapilze
Energy efficiency of MO
Energieeffizienz MO
Weed diversity
Beikräuter-Vielfalt
IPM stockless
IP ohne Wirtschaftsdünger
IPM plus manure
IP mit Wirtschaftsdünger
Ökologisch Organics
- 50% 0% + 50% + 100%
Mäder et al. 2002, Science

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Resource use efficiency (DOK trial, 28 years)
Parameter Unit Organic
farming
Integrated
farming (IP)
with FYM
Organic
in %
of IP
Nutrient input kg N total ha -1 yr -1 101 157 64 %
kg N min ha -1 yr -1 34 112 30 %
kg P ha -1 yr -1 25 40 62 %
kg K ha -1 yr -1 162 254 64 %
Pesticides applied kg ha -1 yr -1 1.5 42 4 %
Fuel use l ha -1 yr -1 808 924 87 %
Total yield output
for 28 years % 83 100 83 %
Soil microbial
biomass „output“ tons ha -1 40 24 167 %
Mäder, Fliessbach, Niggli (2002), Science 296

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Carbon sequestration in long term experiments
Average difference
between the best organic
and the conventional
treatments: 590 kg
carbon ( 2.2 t CO 2) per
hectare and year.
Niggli et al., 2009, FAO brochure

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Are organically managed systems more resilient
and help farmers adapt to climate change?
Adaptive management by community knowledge and
knowledge-intensive farming methods (Borron, 2006).
Resilience within agroecosystems:
Soils fertility building, physical soil properties
(Reganold, 1987, Mäder et al., 2002, Pimentel et al., 2005).
Above and below ground macro and micro flora &
fauna (Hole et al., 2005; Bengtsson et al, 2005).
Crop diversity in time and space
Genetic diversity in crops (Kotschi, 2006).

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Adaptive capacities of organically managed soils
Soils under organic management retain significantly more
rainwater thanks to the ‘sponge properties’ of organic matter.
Soil structure stability was 20–40% higher in organically
managed than in conventional soils in Switzerland (DOK).
Water capture in organic plots was twice as high as in
conventional plots during torrential rains (Rodale
experiment in Pennsylvania/USA)
The amount of water percolating through the top 36 cm was
15–20% greater in the organic systems of the Rodale trial
compared to conventional systems.
The organic soils held 816,000 litres per ha in the upper 15 cm.
This water reservoir was likely the reason for higher yields of
corn and soybean in dry years.
Mäder et al. (2002); Pimentel et al., 2005, Lotter et al. (2003)

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100 % conversion would impact yields
Minus 20 to 40 % in intensively farmed regions
under best geo-climate conditions.
Minus 0 to 20 % in less favourable regions.
Plus 116 % (UNTAD/UNEP, 2008) in the context
of subsistence agriculture and in region with
periodic disruptions of water supply (droughts,
floods).

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Relative organic yields in Europe:
Source: Different publications compiled by J. Sanders, FiBL

Long-term Field
Experiments in
Organic Farming
in Europe
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15
14
4
1
2
5 - 10
12 13
http://www.isofar.org
3
11
1 DIAS Organic crop rotation
2 KVL Closing rural urban
nutrient cycle
3 MTT Long-term trial
4 GRAB Low-input orchard
5 SOEL Ecological soil
management
6 IBDF Long-term fertilization
trial
7 IOL Bonn Biodynamic preparations
8 Univ.Giessen Organic arable farming
(Gladbacherhof)
9 Saxony State
Inst. Agric
LT fertilizer trial
10 BBA LTE plant protection
11 Israel LT nutritional – stone
fruits
12 Univ. Pisa MASCOT (Mediterranean
Arable Systems
Comparison Trial)
13 DISAT Organic – integrated -
conventional
14 FiBL/ART DOK experiment
15 Univ.
Nottingham
LT effects of conversion
studies

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The strategic research avenues
Niggli et al., 2008

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Eco-functional intensification???
Higher degree of organization of farms, knowledgebased
farming and food systems.
More complex and less industrialised farming systems
(e.g. agro-forestry).
Improved management of soil fertility, water, biodiversity,
genetic diversity, energy and nutrients.
Improved use of resilience, self-regulation and self-
healing in farming systems and animal herds.
Adaptation of crop and animal breeding programs to
organic systems.
Novel and improved therapies against pests and
diseases in crop and livestock.
Improved use of novel technologies like MAS,
nanotechnology, robots, sensors and IT.

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Potatoes: diseases

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Crop breeding: ideotypes adapted to organic
farming
Special quality requirements
(nutritional/technological quality
Plant health/pathogenes
(field tolerance, resistance)
Canopy competition
(shoot architecture)
Nutrient absorption/-efficiency
(root system architecture)
many
specific
breeding
goals
Ulrich Köpke, 2006

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1980 - 2000

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The Frick soil tillage experiment, since 2002
Berner, A. et al. (2008): Crop yield and soil quality
response to reduced tillage under organic
management. Soil & Tillage Research: 89-96.

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Functional diversity?
Companion plants increase life span, fecundity and
mobility of parasitoids
Iberis amara Centaurea cyanus Diadegma semiclausum
Céline Géneau, 2008

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Health promoting agents from plants
Cichorium intybus Onobrychis viciifolia
Heckendorn et al., 2006; Marley et al., 2003; Hansen et al., 2006

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Induced resistance (e.g. grapevine, downy
mildew, Plasmopara viticola)
Control PEN (natural elicitor)

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Conclusions
Organic agriculture is an interesting option in the
context of sustainability and can address future
challenges of agriculture in a multi-targeted way.
Excellent concepts and ideas addressing gaps
in performance of organic systems do exist (e.g.
Technology Platform Organics).
Research programs taking them up are crucial
(national programs, trans-national co-operations
like Core Organic II, EU-Framework).