Organic Food Needs More Land and Direct Energy to Be Produced Compared to Food from Conventional Farming: Empirical Evidence from the Czech Republic

Radka Redlichová, Gabriela Chmelíková, Ivana Blažková, Eliška Svobodová and Inez Naaki Vanderpuje
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Radka Redlichová: Department of Regional and Business Economics, Faculty of Regional Development and International Studies, Mendel University in Brno, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Gabriela Chmelíková: Department of Regional and Business Economics, Faculty of Regional Development and International Studies, Mendel University in Brno, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Ivana Blažková: Department of Regional and Business Economics, Faculty of Regional Development and International Studies, Mendel University in Brno, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Eliška Svobodová: Department of Regional and Business Economics, Faculty of Regional Development and International Studies, Mendel University in Brno, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Inez Naaki Vanderpuje: Department of Regional and Business Economics, Faculty of Regional Development and International Studies, Mendel University in Brno, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 9, 1-19

Abstract: This study investigated direct energy consumption and land performance under two different methods of farming—organic and conventional. The aim of our study was to examine the performance of farmers in the Czech Republic and identify the differences between organic and conventional farming regarding food safety and direct energy consumption. Based on the data from the Farm Accountancy Data Network of the EU, we measured the performance of both organic and conventional farmers in terms of product per unit of land and direct energy consumption per unit of product regarding the natural condition of the farm localization. Our findings show that organic farms produce lower output with less direct energy per unit of land; however, they need more direct energy for one unit of production. We found that a product from organic agriculture consumes 1.7-fold greater direct energy than a conventional product. The worse the natural conditions for farming, the broader the difference between organic and conventional regimes regarding their performance and energy consumption. Our conclusions may help shape agricultural policy in the Czech Republic, where organic farming is receiving systematic political support, leading to an increase in the proportion of organically farmed arable land.

Keywords: organic farming; conventional farming; food self-sufficiency; environmental burden; food systems (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:11:y:2021:i:9:p:813-:d:623275

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