A Case for Organic

A CASE FOR ORGANIC

with Dr.Oliver Moore

OPPS!

(Geiger et al 2010) Europe-wide study in eight West and East European countries, found important negative effects of agricultural intensification on wild plant, carabid and bird species diversity and on the potential for biological pest control ... Of the 13 components of intensification we measured, use of insecticides and fungicides had consistent negative effects on biodiversity. Insecticides also reduced the biological control potential...

whereas organic....

Organic farming and other agri-environment schemes aiming to mitigate the negative effects of intensive farming on biodiversity did increase the diversity of wild plant and carabid species.” Geiger (et al 2010)

Birkhofera et al 2008: “Our study indicates that the use of synthetic fertilizers and herbicide application changes interactions within and between below and above ground components, ultimately promoting negative environmental impacts of agriculture by reducing internal biological cycles and pest control. On the contrary, organic farming fosters microbial and faunal decomposers and this propagates into the above ground system via generalist predators thereby increasing conservation biological control”.

Root length colonized by mycorrhizae in organic farming systems was 40% higher; biomass and abundance of earthworms were higher by a factor of 1.3 to 3.2; twice the average activity density of carabids, staphylinids, and spiders; some specialized and endangered species were present only in the organic systems... (and so on above ground) (Maeder et al 2002)

Journal of Applied Ecology (2011) Eileen Power and Jane Stout (TCD) investigated 10 conventional and 10 organic dairy farms in Ireland: "organic farming was found to provide increased floral resources that attract more pollinating insects and pollination success was higher on farms under organic management”.

KEY POINT: (Hole et al 2005) which analysed 76 peer-reviewed research papers, found in 66 cases, across all categories of plants, animals and soil, organic performed better than conventional for biodiversity

"The economic value of benefits from biodiverse natural ecosystems may be 10 to 100 times the cost of maintaining them” according to Rands et al, writing in Science. (2010).

Nutrition

& Safety

Yield

Centre for Co-operative Studies UCC

Energy

Biodiversity

Climate

change

Today's focus will be on biodiversity.

Biodiversity is being lost at at least 1000 times a faster rate than natural extinctions would allow for.

“Populations of farmland birds in Europe, which indicate the health of the ecosystem as a whole, have declined by almost 50% in the past 25 years” Birdlife International.

Crop biodiversity loss is also a major concern

Soil

Water

Landscape

photo credit Nasa / Goddard Space Flight Center / Reto Stöckli

Gomierio (2011)

“A new challenge lies ahead: how to feed nine billion with less land, water and energy, while at the same time preserving natural resources and soil fertility?

“Technical advances are important in order to meet the future needs, but addressing key socioeconomic issues, such as the inequality in the access to resources, population growth, and access to education are also a priority if we want to properly deal with sustainability. It may require our society to change some of its paradigms and “values” if we wish to preserve our support system, the soil and its health, for the future generations.”

Ireland and biodiversity

O Brien et al (2008), an overview of the research into biodiversity and conventional arable farming in Ireland, found the available research “suggests that conventional crop

cultivation has had an adverse impact on biodiversity on Irish farms, with

15 of the 21 studies demonstrating negative trends for the taxa investigated.”

“Each year, approximately 672 million birds are directly exposed to pesticides on farmlands in the United States, and of these, about 10 percent, or 67 million birds, are estimated to die immediately as a result. This figure does not include birds that perish after a period of illness, that die after feeding on poisoned insects, rodents, or other prey, or losses due to failed reproduction (eggs left unhatched or nestlings left to starve)."

O'Brien also points out that “only one study has compared the biodiversity of organisms in organic vs conventionally grown crops in Ireland” this study found “a greater abundance (78% higher) and diversity of beetles in the organic plots.” But now...

the other areas outlined also effect biodiversity:

e.g. soil degredation (see paper for more details)

please sir, i want some more (organic supports)