Comparing the biodiversity impacts of conventional and organic agriculture

Abstract

As the human population grows, the agriculture industry grows with it. More land is needed every year to support a growing population, and the clearing of land has put increasing stress on natural ecosystems around the world. Additionally, aggressive land management practices have been developed and employed in recent years to maximize agricultural output at the expense of the natural environment. The combination of these two factors has led to unprecedented levels of biodiversity loss in many regions around the world. The purpose of this work was to understand the impacts which two different agricultural strategies, conventional and organic, have on global biodiversity. The product systems of organic and conventional potato and corn were modelled using cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment, and the life cycle inventories were compiled using relevant databases and literature. Biodiversity was assessed in each product system based on nine impact categories, and conclusions were drawn based on the impact assessment to estimate the impacts to different types of ecosystems on a broader scale.

The results indicate that, in one out of nine impact categories, organic potato production had lower impacts to biodiversity than conventional potato production, and in four out of nine impact categories, organic corn production had lower biodiversity impacts than conventional corn production. Overall biodiversity impacts to freshwater ecosystems were greater in both organic product systems than in the conventional product systems. Biodiversity impacts to terrestrial ecosystems were greater in the organic corn model than in the conventional corn model but were lower in the organic potato model when compared to the conventional potato model. Impacts were derived primarily from background processes in the irrigation, and seed production stages of each product system.