Discussion and limitations
Generally speaking, conversion to organic production methods enables farmers to improve their environmental performance, especially per unit of land farmed, although there is evidence that organic agriculture has fewer advantages for extensive crop cultivation in mountainous (De Boer, 2003) or arid areas (Guzmán and Alonso, 2008; Guzmán and González de Molina, 2009). Our findings are in line with those of these recent studies. We have found that, in relative terms, environmental gains from organic crop cultivation
under dry land conditions are low for both large and small farms, due to the extensive nature of both cultivation systems.
According to the “conventionalization” hypothesis, the industrialization and intensification of organic agriculture could have a negative impact on farms’ environmental performance. Although, under dry land conditions, the technical options for intensification are scant, results suggest that organic farmers focus more on improving productive efficiency than on controlling pollutant emissions. They may be driven in this respect by the need to overcome the technological restrictions imposed by organic standards and the uncertainty of using new technology.