Numerous reports have emphasized the need for major changes in
the global food system: agriculture must meet the twin challenge of
feeding a growing population, with rising demand for meat and
high-calorie diets, while simultaneously minimizing its global
environmental impacts1,2. Organic farming—a system aimed at
producing food with minimal harm to ecosystems, animals or
humans—is often proposed as a solution3,4. However, critics argue
that organic agriculture may have lower yields and would therefore
need more land to produce the same amount of food as conventional
farms, resulting in more widespread deforestation and biodiversity
loss, and thus undermining the environmental benefits of
organic practices5. Here we use a comprehensive meta-analysis to
examine the relative yield performance of organic and conventional
farming systems globally. Our analysis of available data
shows that, overall, organic yields are typically lower than conventional
yields. But these yield differences are highly contextual,
depending on system and site characteristics, and range from 5%
lower organic yields (rain-fed legumes and perennials on weakacidic
to weak-alkaline soils), 13% lower yields (when best organic
practices are used), to 34% lower yields (when the conventional and
organic systems are most comparable). Under certain conditions—
that is, with good management practices, particular crop types and
growing conditions—organic systems can thus nearly match conventional
yields, whereas under others it at present cannot. To
establish organic agriculture as an important tool in sustainable
food production, the factors limiting organic yields need to be
more fully understood, alongside assessments of the many social,
environmental and economic benefits of organic farming systems.