Study Finds Organic Food is Worse for the Environment
International researchers from Chalmers University of Technology have found that organic food is worse for the climate than non-organic food, according to IFLScience.com. While organic farming reduces the amount of fertilizers and chemicals used to boost crops, there is still an side effect on the environment. Because organic crops produce much lower yields than non organic, more land is required in order to produce the same amount of food. In order to acquire this land, high amounts of deforestation are required, which decreases the amount of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere.
The study, published in Nature, “found that organic peas farmed in Sweden have about a 50% bigger impact on the climate than peas farmed using conventional methods. For other foodstuffs there was an even bigger difference, with Swedish winter wheat being close to 70%,” IFLScience.com reported.
These findings also apply to organic meat production, according to the team, however they warn that people looking to reduce their impact on the climate shouldn’t abandon all organic food.
“The type of food is often much more important,” study author Stefan Wirsenius said. “Eating organic beans or organic chicken is much better for the climate than to eat conventionally produced beef.”
