Study demonstrates that organic farming accumulates carbon in the soil

By. Kai Kreuzer


Organic farming contributes to the sequestration of carbon in the soil and thus helps to mitigate climate change. This is the conclusion arrived at by a group of international climate experts. Under the leadership of the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), the group evaluated for the first time data contained in 74 studies from around the world.
These studies measured soil organic carbon in organic and conventional farming systems. The results of the metaanalysis have now been published in the prestigious journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Their analysis of the various studies has shown that the level of carbon stocks in organically managed soil is, on average, 3.5 t per hectare higher than on non-organically managed land.

Based on 20 studies, the researchers calculated that organically managed land can store up to 450 kg more atmospheric carbon per hectare and year. Significantly higher carbon stocks were shown to be present in farms that did not import fertilizers from outside. This shows that enhancing humus content and carbon sequestration in a closed nutrient cycle – the goal of organic farming – is certainly possible. The authors of the study emphasize that, although the closed organic cycle is a typical feature of organic farming, it can also be applied in conventional land management and thus contribute to alleviating damage to the climate.

„Enhanced top soil carbon stocks under organic farming. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)" was published by the authors A. Gattinger, A. Mueller, M. Haeni, C. Skinner, A. Fliessbach, N. Buchmann, P. Mäder, M. Stolze, P. Smith, N. El-Hage Scialabba and U. Niggli (2012).

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