Editing Organic farming (section)

=== Productivity ===

Studies comparing yields have had mixed results.<ref name="Welsh, Rick 1999">{{cite journal | author=Welsh, Rick | title=Economics of Organic Grain and Soybean Production in the Midwestern United States | journal=Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture | series=Policy Studies Report No. 13 | year=1999 | url=http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/handle/134120}}</ref> These differences among findings can often be attributed to variations between study designs including differences in the crops studied and the methodology by which results were gathered.

A 2012 meta-analysis found that productivity is typically lower for organic farming than conventional farming, but that the size of the difference depends on context and in some cases may be very small.<ref name=Verena2013>{{cite journal | last1 = Seufert | first1 = Verena | last2 = Ramankutty | first2 = Navin | last3 = Foley | first3 = Jonathan A. | year = 2012 | title = Comparing the yields of organic and conventional agriculture | journal = Nature | volume = 485 | issue = 7397| pages = 229–232 | doi=10.1038/nature11069| bibcode = 2012Natur.485..229S | pmid = 22535250 | s2cid = 2702124 }}</ref> While organic yields can be lower than conventional yields, another meta-analysis published in Sustainable Agriculture Research in 2015, concluded that certain organic on-farm practices could help narrow this gap. Timely weed management and the application of manure in conjunction with legume forages/cover crops were shown to have positive results in increasing organic corn and soybean productivity.

Another meta-analysis published in the journal ''Agricultural Systems'' in 2011 analyzed 362 datasets and found that organic yields were on average 80% of conventional yields. The author's found that there are relative differences in this yield gap based on crop type with crops like soybeans and rice scoring higher than the 80% average and crops like wheat and potato scoring lower. Across global regions, Asia and Central Europe were found to have relatively higher yields and Northern Europe relatively lower than the average.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=de Pont |first1=Tomek |last2=Rijk |first2=Bert |last3=van Ittersum |first3=Martin K. |date=19 December 2011 |title=The crop yield gap between organic and conventional agriculture |journal=Agricultural Systems |volume=108 |pages=1–9 |doi=10.1016/j.agsy.2011.12.004}}</ref>

====Long term studies====
A study published in 2005 compared conventional cropping, organic animal-based cropping, and organic legume-based cropping on a test farm at the [[Rodale Institute]] over 22 years.<ref>Pimentel DP et al. (2005) [http://www.ce.cmu.edu/~gdrg/readings/2007/02/20/Pimental_EnvironmentalEnergeticAndEconomicComparisonsOfOrganicAndConventionalFarmingSystems.pdf Environmental, Energetic, and Economic Comparisons of Organic and Conventional Farming Systems] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130601032933/http://www.ce.cmu.edu/~gdrg/readings/2007/02/20/Pimental_EnvironmentalEnergeticAndEconomicComparisonsOfOrganicAndConventionalFarmingSystems.pdf |date=1 June 2013 }} Bioscience 55(7): 573-582.</ref> The study found that "the crop yields for corn and soybeans were similar in the organic animal, organic legume, and conventional farming systems". It also found that "significantly less [[fossil energy]] was expended to produce corn in the Rodale Institute's organic animal and organic legume systems than in the conventional production system. There was little difference in energy input between the different treatments for producing soybeans. In the organic systems, synthetic fertilizers and pesticides were generally not used". As of 2013 the Rodale study was ongoing<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rodaleinstitute.org/science/farming-systems-trial/|title=Farming Systems Trial}}</ref> and a thirty-year anniversary report was published by Rodale in 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://rodaleinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/FSTbookletFINAL.pdf |title=The Farming Systems Trial Rodale 30 year report|access-date=March 7, 2017}}</ref>

A long-term field study comparing organic/conventional agriculture carried out over 21 years in Switzerland concluded that "Crop yields of the organic systems averaged over 21 experimental years at 80% of the conventional ones. The fertilizer input, however, was 34 – 51% lower, indicating an efficient production. The organic farming systems used 20 – 56% less energy to produce a crop unit and per land area this difference was 36 – 53%. In spite of the considerably lower pesticide input the quality of organic products was hardly discernible from conventional analytically and even came off better in food preference trials and picture creating methods."<ref>Fliessbach, et al. ([[Research Institute of Organic Agriculture]]), [http://www.soilace.com/pdf/pon2004/1.Fliessbach.pdf "D-O-K (Biodynamic-Bioorganic-Conventional): Results From 21 Year Old Field Experiment"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120710044051/http://www.soilace.com/pdf/pon2004/1.Fliessbach.pdf |date=10 July 2012 }}.</ref>