Transition to renewable resources - energy balance comparisons of organic and conventional farming systems and potentials for the mitigation of fossil resource use

Summary

Today, agriculture and food production has major implications for the use of fossil energy and other resources, and a sustainable development implies transition towards new systems, based on renewable resources.
The reduction of external inputs to the farm through efficient management of materials and energy is a central part of the organic principles (IFOAM 2013), and in most countries standards are implemented in the form of nationally adapted, organic farming regulations, with significant implications for the potential energy and matter flows in- and out of the agricultural systems, and thereby the energy balance and the use of renewable resources.
Consequently, it is important to develop new and more resource efficient production systems mitigating organic farming’s reliance on fossil resources, and to compare different pathways towards reduced resource consumption in agriculture.