IN THEIR REPORT “SOIL FERTILITY AND BIOdiversity in organic farming,” P. Mäder et al. (31 May, p. 1694) downplay two factors in their discussion of the relative merits of organic and conventional farming. First, because organic farming yields (per unit of land) were 20% lower than those from conventional farming, 25% more land would be required to produce the same amount of crop biomass, offset...

Carbon sequestration in agricultural soils has the capacity to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, as well as to improve soil biological, physical, and chemical properties. The review of literature pertaining to soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics within Australian grain farming systems does not enable us to conclude on the best farming practices to increase or maintain SOC for a specific combina...

● lower stocking densities and production levels than in conventional systems (stocking densities on dairy farms on average 80% lower; on beef and sheep farms 40-80% lower). Organic certification Definitions of ‘organic’ farming vary internationally. Many countries operate national or ‘private’ standards, which do not have statutory status. The International Federation of Organic Farming Moveme...

Sustainable farming is a popular concept, although very difficult to define (Viglizzo 1996). We believe that farming in the Argentine pampas has been sustainable in the broad sense. Over a span of three generations, productivity has increased, living standards have improved, and the farming sector has been the principal contributor to national development and the major earner of foreign exchang...

The aim of this paper was to present results from two long term field experiments comparing potato samples from conventional farming systems with samples from biodynamic farming systems. The principal component analyses (PCA), consistently exhibited differences between potato samples from the two farming systems. According to the PCA, potato samples treated with inorganic fertilizers exhibited ...

Many cultivation practices have been improved in order to decrease environmental burdens of paddy rice production in Japan. Therefore, the importance of life cycle assessment (LCA) to assess the environmental impacts of whole production systems particularly that of rice production has increased. However, the applications of LCA to rice production are still limited, although rice is the staple f...

Relevance Concerns about the environmental impact of farming has increasingly been the focus of discussions in the EU. Croplands, a primary land use in Europe, have a significant impact on the environment (soil, water bodies, global climate, local biodiversity and human health). The use of fertilisers and pesticides associated with conventional farming may lead to pollution and/or climate chang...

Studies under controlled experimental conditions show a clear advantage for staple food grown under biological/ecological farming conditions as compared to those from conventional farming methods. This is especially true for the vegetative parts of plant products, where lower undesirable (e.g. nitrates) and higher desirable (e.g. vit. C, trace elements) components are present. A better storage ...

Collectively, nematode parasites of domestic ruminants continue to pose the greatest disease problem in grazing livestock systems worldwide, despite the powerful and extensive chemotherapeutic arsenal available for their control. The widespread development of anthelmintic resistance, particularly in nematode parasites of small ruminants, and the trend towards non-chemical (ecological, organic, ...