Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2018
College/Unit
Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design
Department/Program/Center
Division of Plant and Soil Sciences
Abstract
We are at a pivotal time in human history, as the agricultural sector undergoes consolidation coupled with increasing energy costs in the context of declining resource availability. Although organic systems are often thought of as more sustainable than conventional operations, the lack of concise and widely accepted means to measure sustainability makes coming to an agreement on this issue quite challenging. However, an accurate assessment of sustainability can be reached by dissecting the scientific underpinnings of opposing production practices and crop output between cropping systems. The purpose of this review is to provide an in-depth and comprehensive evaluation of modern global production practices and economics of organic cropping systems, as well as assess the sustainability of organic production practices through the clarification of information and analysis of recent research. Additionally, this review addresses areas where improvements can be made to help meet the needs of future organic producers, including organic-focused breeding programs and necessity of coming to a unified global stance on plant breeding technologies. By identifying management strategies that utilize practices with long-term environmental and resource efficiencies, a concerted global effort could guide the adoption of organic agriculture as a sustainable food production system.
Digital Commons Citation
Fess, Tiffany L. and Benedito, Vagner, "Organic versus Conventional Cropping Sustainability: A Comparative System Analysis" (2018). Faculty & Staff Scholarship. 1219.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/faculty_publications/1219
Source Citation
Fess, T.L.; Benedito, V.A. Organic versus Conventional Cropping Sustainability: A Comparative System Analysis. Sustainability 2018, 10, 272. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10010272
Comments
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The article is supported by the WVU Libraries' Open Access Author Fund.