On the ecological sustainability of organic farming

E. Ann Clark, Jennifer Sumner, and Karen Maitland

At issue is the extent to which organic farming practices actually emulate Nature, and hence, are ecologically sustainable. Twelve Ontario organic farms surveyed annually between 2001 and 2003 were assessed using 9 Ecological Sustainability Indicators (ESI): 2 for soils, 3 for biodiversity/biocontrol, 2 for nutrient cycling, and 2 for energy use. These particular parameters were chosen because they offered an opening into foundational issues, were relatively easy to measure, and required neither costly equipment or lab analyses nor scarce technical skill.

Aggregate farm type ESI was in the order of pasture > mixed crop/livestock > hort farms, which averaged 96, 58, and 41% of possible points, respectively. The trend in aggregate ESI was roughly consistent with documented trends in soil organic matter from the same farms, which averaged 6.3% (n=5) on pasture farms, compared with 3.8 and 4.1% on field crop (n=39) and hort crop (n=30) farms, respectively. Implications for the design of ecologically sound farms in the Great Lakes Basin are discussed.

Full Presentation


Source
Organic Agriculture Research Symposium held at the 25th Guelph Organic Conference, University of Guelph, January 2006


Author Locations & Affiliations
Plant Agriculture and Rural Studies Program, University of Guelph, and Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario
Corresponding Author: Ann Clark eaclark@uoguelph.ca


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