Making Conventional Agriculture Environmentally Friendly: Moving beyond the Glorification of Organic Agriculture and the Demonization of Conventional Agriculture

Alon Tal
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Alon Tal: Department of Public Policy, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-17

Abstract: The article reviews the most recent research surrounding the potential role of organic agriculture in providing food for the planet. It challenges the claims of organic agriculture’s environmental superiority compared to well-managed, conventional agriculture. The relative advantages of these contrasting approaches to farming in areas such as aggregate land requirements, biodiversity/habitat loss, water quality, land degradation and climate change are considered. Legitimate concerns about conventional agriculture’s adverse environmental and health impacts need to be addressed and many harmful practices transformed. Nonetheless, careful, sustainably-run, conventional operations can avoid many of the pitfalls and hazards which are often associated with high-input agriculture. The higher yields provided by conventional agriculture offer a more sustainable strategy than a chemical-free agricultural system at the global level for meeting the needs of burgeoning populations and reducing agriculture’s aggregate environmental impact.

Keywords: organic agriculture; conventional agriculture; sustainability; comparison (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:4:p:1078-:d:139603

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