Environmental Aspects Of Organic Farming - Organic Agriculture Towards Sustainability - page 265

Environmental Aspects Of Organic Farming
http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/58298

for wheat and 0.19% for rye) and their environmental impact lies mainly in their toxicity, a
very high emission load is generated by using synthetic fertilizers (conventional farming
system) instead of organic fertilizers (organic farming system). This is consistent with findings
of [5, 19] who state that synthetic fertilizers are the main source of greenhouse gas emissions.
As it is evident from Figure 5, the conventional farming produces in this stage of the process
significantly more GHG emissions. With wheat, these values (0.221 CO 2 e/kg of grains in the
conventional farming system, 0.069 in the organic farming system) are in organic agriculture
by 68.8% lower, for rye then 83.4% lower (0.259 CO 2 e/kg of grains in the conventional farming
system, 0.043 in the organic farming system).

GHG emissions from fertilization make up a value around 48% (48.04% wheat, 48.27% rye),
this is the largest share of total emissions in conventional agriculture, which is consistent with
findings of [21] who states this proportion of 40-50% for rape and approaches the data by [6]
who states the range of 35-40%. While in organic farming, emissions from fertilization make
up in the total amount of GHG emissions only 16.31% with wheat and 14.41% with rye. [17]
states that nitrogen management in agriculture loses its effectiveness in terms of the proportion
of utilization of applied nitrogen. The total number of inputs is increasing but plants consume
actually still smaller share of the applied nitrogen. A large part of the increased amount of
fertilizer is not processed by the plant but is released into the water or into the air. To reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, it is necessary next to a reduction of synthetic fertilizers also a
proper management of their application or the application of fertilizers in general. Both within
conventional and organic farming system, there should be able to reduce the environmental
load arising from fertilization with nitrogen while maintaining current yield levels.

In terms of emission production, the extensification of conventional farming or its conversion
to the organic farming system can be the step leading to a reduction in the overall proportion
of anthropogenic GHG emissions. On the contrary, within organic farming, the increased
yields are seek. They emphasizes the environmental friendliness also after conversion to the
unit of production.

The increase of income, while maintaining the current structure of inputs of organic farming,
as a way of deepening its environmental benefit, is referred also by [9]. This is consistent with
findings by [12] who states that organic farming systems are significantly more environmen‐
tally friendly when they reach a relatively higher yields. [7] states that this can be achieved by
e.g. more efficient application of fertilizers and crop rotation balance. Also, the proper selection
of varieties could significantly contribute to better yields and their stability within organic
farming and in the farming system with low inputs [8]. Productivity in sustainable farming
can be increased through many indirect measures based on improving of soil fertility and
stimulation of the functions of plants and microorganisms in natural soil processes. The most
important role in the soil is yet played by carbon. It is important for soil moisture and at the
same time thanks to increasing the carbon content or the soil organic matter in the soil, the
production of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere can be reduced. Strengthening
these soil processes in order to increase the productivity is typical for organic farming [40].