Transcript Can organic agriculture buffer climate change? Definitions are

Can organic agriculture buffer
climate change? Definitions are
everything.
(Mason-Case, 2010)
Who:
Q:
self
what are your assumptions about organic
food?
A:
•
•
•
•
•
quality
health
environment 
labour
humane treatment
structure
1.
2.
3.
4.
climate change
definition
regulation
drawbacks & trade-offs
agriculture + climate change?
(FAO, 2009)
(IPCC, 2007)
organic for climate change mitigation,
adaptation (and development)
FAO – ITC – FiBL – UNCTAD – CGIAR – EC...
1. mitigation
• reduce GHGs
• sequestrate CO2 in soils
2. resilience
• traditional skills and farmers’ knowledge
• soil fertility-building
• diversify crops
3. development
• foster trade
• price premium
so, organic is...what again?
Leopold (1949): the discontent that labels itself ‘organic
farming,’ while bearing some of the earmarks of a cult, is
nevertheless biotic in its direction...
Codex Alimentarius (1999): based on specific and precise
standards of production which aim at achieving optimal
agroecosystems, which are socially, ecologically and
economically sustainable
Gov. Canada (2009): principal goal of organic production is to
develop enterprises that are sustainable and harmonious
with the environment.... Protect the environment, minimize
soil degradation and erosion, decrease pollution, optimize
and promote biological productivity...
FiBL (2010)
At no other time has there been such an
opportunity to make organic principles and
systems a beacon for sustainable
development. Agro-ecological agriculture,
represented best by organic principles and
systems, is a multifunctional solution to many
global problems that are reaching crisis
proportions, including environmental
degradation, hunger, and economic and social
injustice.
FiBL  certified organic, wild collection and bee keeping
organic market
regulation - trade - growth (GOMA, CBTF, SECO, CDM)
73 countries, 16 in process (Codex)
North America + Europe 97%
drawbacks & trade-offs
(same old...fossil fuels)
organic regulations facilitate trade!
1.
2.
3.
4.
control
scale
energy
transportation
Ann Clark*
Organic standards do indeed help us to avoid many of the needless
harms we’ve imposed upon ourselves in recent decades. But as much
as it pains me to say it, as practiced today, some (most) organic farms
are still ecologically unsound...
So what would ecologically sound, post-oil agriculture look like?
Organic? For sure. Of necessity.
But organic according to contemporary North American organic
standards is not enough. Humans have a long history of farming
themselves to extinction, and long before GMOs or biocides or
synthetic fertilizer were invented. So the issue of resolving the
problem of ecologically unsound farming is more than replacing these
inputs with rotations and composting.
organics +  (local, independent, fresh)
*Director, Organic Program, Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph