Organic Farming and It's Carbon Footprint in Agriculture.

Table 1. This table identifies the impact of N inputs and soil biogeochemical parameters on

N2O emissions. The Nmin, nitrate and ammonium, input showed a high impact on N2O emissions together with the soil pH. 

Agriculture contributes significantly to global greenhouse gas emissions with
up to 10 to 12% of carbon-dioxide equivalents including other agriculture-related
activities that can move that percentage upwards. These emissions have
high global warming potential, therefore the reduction of these emissions would
allow for agriculture's mitigation potential to way in favor of limiting global
warming. Organically managed soils emit more N2O than non-organically agricultured
soils. A study obtained a greenhouse gas data-set from the oldest and longest
running farming system over a period of 571 days between two organic and two non-organic
farming systems. This study observed soil-derived emissions and ultimately showed that
overall N2O emissions were on average 40.2% lower in organic farming systems than in non-organic farming systems. This study has shown us that organic farming systems can help with mitigating greenhouse gases agriculturally.


By: Irene Leyendecker


Article Citation:

Skinner C, Gattinger A, Krauss M, Krause H, Mayer K, Van der Heijden M, et al. (2019)
The impact of long-term organic farming on soil-derived greenhouse gas emissions.
Scientific Reports volume 9, Article number: 1702 (2019).