Conclusions
Despite lower yields and not accounting for externalities or ecosystem services, organic agriculture was significantly more profitable than conventional agriculture. With breakeven premiums being significantly lower than actual premiums received, our findingssuggestthatorganicagriculturecancontinuetoexpandevenif premiums decline. However, making farming financially viable is vital, but is only one of four goals that must be met for agriculture to besustainable.Equally important is enhancing the environment, producingamplecropyieldsofhighquality,andcontributingtothe well-beingoffarmersandtheircommunities.Conventionalfarming has provided increasing supplies of food and other products, but often at the expense of other sustainability goals. Although organic agriculture produces lower yields than conventional agriculture, it better unites human health, environment, and socioeconomic objectives than conventional systems. In a time of increasing population growth, climate change, environmental degradation, and rising energy costs, such agricultural systems with a more balanced portfolio of sustainability benefits are needed. With only 1% of the global agricultural land in organic production and with its multiplesustainability benefits,organic agriculture cancontribute a larger share in feeding the world. Scaling up organic and other farming systems that balance all four sustainability goals with appropriate public policies can create an enabling environment for such sustainable modes of production. The challenge facingpolicymakers is to develop government policies that support conventional farmers converting to organic and other more sustainable systems, especially during the transition period, often the first 3 y. In addition, such policies can be established that incorporate the value of external costs and ecosystem services of different farming approaches, such as organic agriculture, into the traditional marketplace, thereby supporting food producers for using sustainable practices. Foods would be valued based on health benefits, food security, and ecosystem services, minus any environmental and social costs, provided by the farms that produced them. Such a food system would be both farming system and technology neutral and would allow the public to choose products that push agriculture in a more sustainable direction.