According to a US National Academy of Sciences report10, any
farm, be it organic or conventional, can only be deemed sustainable
if it produces adequate amounts of high-quality food, enhances
the natural-resource base and environment, is financially viable,
and contributes to the wellbeing of farmers and their communities.
With the rise of organic farming in the past two decades, hundreds
of research studies comparing different aspects of organic and
conventional farming systems have been published. This section
focuses on assessing such comparison studies across these four sustainability
areas.