Environmental, Energetic, and Economic Comparisons of Organic and Conventional Farming Systems

By DAVID PIMENTEL¹, PAUL HEPPERLY², JAMES HANSON³, DAVID DOUDS⁴, AND RITA SEIDEL²

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.

1. David Pimentel (e-mail: dp18@cornell.edu) works in the Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, at Cornell University,
Ithaca, NY 14853.

2. Paul Hepperly and Rita Seidel are with the Rodale Institute, 611 Siegfriedale Road, Kutztown, PA 19530.

3. James Hanson works in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742.

4. David Douds is with the USDA Agricultural Research Service, Eastern Regional Research Center, 600 E. Mermaid Lane, Wyndmoor, PA 19038.

© 2005 American Institute of Biological Sciences.

Source
BioScience • July 2005 / Vol. 55 No. 7