CAN ORGANIC FARMING HELP TO REDUCE NATIONAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND EMISSIONS OF GREENHOUSE GASSES IN DENMARK? - Economics of Sustainable Energy in Agriculture - page 191

conventional and organic agricultural production. In the scenarios for
conversion to organic farming, the is particularly reduced,
partly because of lower nitrogen losses (Dalgaard et al. 1998). Also for the
other two major greenhouse gases, a significant reduction is expected
following organic conversion. The net greenhouse gas emission from
agriculture may in the future be lowered via increased bio-energy
production, and a large unused potential for such bio-energy production is
present in conventional agriculture.
In conclusion, conversion to organic farming might help to reduce
energy consumption and emissions of greenhouse gasses in Denmark, but
for policy analysis these reductions must be evaluated also with other
criteria for a sustainable future agricultural production.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank professor John R. Porter, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural
University in Copenhagen, and Senior Researcher Nick Hutchings, Danish Institute of
Agricultural Sciences for valuable comments on this chapter. Further, we thank Carolien
Kroeze, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University and Johnny M.
Andersen, The National Environmental Institute of Denmark for information about the
application of the IPCC method. Finally, we thank Danish Environmental Protection
Agency and Danish Research Centre for Organic Farming for sponsoring the initial parts of
this work.

NOTES

1 Scandinavian Fodder Unit (SFU)= 12.5 MJ barley equivalent, metabolisable energy
2
Livestock Unit (LSU) corresponded in 1996 to 1 cow of large breed, 3 sows or 30 porkers
produced
3 Standard EF-values for cool regions (mean annual temperature <15°C) are used.

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