Comparison of organic and conventional cropping systems: a systematic review of life cycle assessment studies

To meet international and European sustainability goals, the transition to sustainable agriculture is pivotal and ways to achieve it are under discussion. Conventional agricultural systems are typically highly productive, but with significant environmental costs. Contrarily, organic agriculture is perceived as a sustainable farming option, but is often criticized for achieving lower yields. Life cycle assessment (LCA) can support the comparison of the environmental performance of different cropping systems. The present work aims at systematically reviewing LCA studies comparing the environmental impacts of organic and conventional crop systems. To this end we selected and analysed 77 pairwise comparative LCA studies, defined as LCA studies that perform a comparison between the two cultivation management systems of a specific crop or group of crops, cultivated under similar conditions, and show consistency in the main methodological choices. Independently from the functional unit adopted, organic systems show overall a better environmental performance than conventional ones. These results are valid for the majority of the impacts assessed. Certain crop classes systematically show lower impacts when organically cultivated, although exception exists. The heterogeneity of modelling approaches makes the comparison of cropping systems difficult and the definition of trends challenging. In addition, key aspects such as soil quality, biodiversity and water use are still poorly investigated.

BOSCHIERO Martina;  DE LAURENTIIS Valeria;  CALDEIRA Carla;  SALA Serenella; 

2023-07-06

ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC

JRC134178

0195-9255 (online),   

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195925523001531,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC134178,   

10.1016/j.eiar.2023.107187 (online),