Sustainable

Agriculture–

Beyond Organic

Farming

Sean Clark

www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability

Edited by

sustainability

Printed Edition of the Special Issue Published in Sustainability

Sean Clark (Ed.)

Sustainable Agriculture–Beyond

Organic Farming

This book is a reprint of the Special Issue that appeared in the online, open access

journal, Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050) in 2016, available at:

http://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/special_issues/BOrganicFarming

Guest Editor

Sean Clark

Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources

Berea College

USA

Editorial Office

MDPI AG

St. Alban-Anlage 66

Basel, Switzerland

Publisher

Shu-Kun Lin

Managing Editor

Guoshui Liu

1. Edition 2016

MDPI • Basel • Beijing • Wuhan • Barcelona • Belgrade

ISBN 978-3-03842-304-1 (Hbk)

ISBN 978-3-03842-305-8 (electronic)

Articles in this volume are Open Access and distributed under the Creative Commons

Attribution license (CC BY), which allows users to download, copy and build upon

published articles even for commercial purposes, as long as the author and publisher are

properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our

under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons by Attribution (CC BY-NC-ND)

license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

III

Table of Contents

List of Contributors ......................................................................................................... VII

About the Guest Editor..................................................................................................... XI

Preface to “Sustainable Agriculture–Beyond Organic Farming” ............................ XIII

Section 1: Performance of Organic Farming

Evelien M. de Olde, Frank W. Oudshoorn, Eddie A. M. Bokkers,

Anke Stubsgaard, Claus A. G. Sørensen and Imke J. M. de Boer

Assessing the Sustainability Performance of Organic Farms in Denmark

Reprinted from: Sustainability 2016, 8(9), 957

http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/9/957 ........................................................................ 3

Juan Torres, Diego L. Valera, Luis J. Belmonte and Carlos Herrero-Sánchez

Economic and Social Sustainability through Organic Agriculture: Study of the

Restructuring of the Citrus Sector in the “Bajo Andarax” District (Spain)

Reprinted from: Sustainability 2016, 8(9), 918

http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/9/918 ...................................................................... 31

Lifen Huang, Jie Yang, Xiaoyi Cui, Huozhong Yang, Shouhong Wang and

Hengyang Zhuang

Synergy and Transition of Recovery Efficiency of Nitrogen Fertilizer in Various

Rice Genotypes under Organic Farming

Reprinted from: Sustainability 2016, 8(9), 854

http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/9/854 ...................................................................... 51

Saem Lee, Trung Thanh Nguyen, Patrick Poppenborg, Hio-Jung Shin and

Thomas Koellner

Conventional, Partially Converted and Environmentally Friendly Farming in

South Korea: Profitability and Factors Affecting Farmers’ Choice

Reprinted from: Sustainability 2016, 8(8), 704

http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/704 ...................................................................... 72

Alfredo J. Escribano

Beef Cattle Farms’ Conversion to the Organic System. Recommendations for

Success in the Face of Future Changes in a Global Context

Reprinted from: Sustainability 2016, 8(6), 572

http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/6/572 ...................................................................... 97

Section 2: Farming to Food Systems

Natalia Brzezina, Birgit Kopainsky and Erik Mathijs

Can Organic Farming Reduce Vulnerabilities and Enhance the Resilience of the

European Food System? A Critical Assessment Using System Dynamics Structural

Thinking Tools

Reprinted from: Sustainability 2016, 8(10), 971

http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/10/971 .................................................................. 131

Safdar Muhummad, Eihab Fathelrahman and Rafi Ullah Tasbih Ullah

The Significance of Consumer’s Awareness about Organic Food Products in the

United Arab Emirates

Reprinted from: Sustainability 2016, 8(9), 833

http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/9/833 .................................................................... 178

Markus Larsson, Rebecka Milestad, Thomas Hahn and Jacob von Oelreich

The Resilience of a Sustainability Entrepreneur in the Swedish Food System

Reprinted from: Sustainability 2016, 8(6), 550

http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/6/550 .................................................................... 194

Section 3: Beyond Organic: Shaping Future Farming and

Food Systems

Francesco Sottile, Daniela Fiorito, Nadia Tecco, Vincenzo Girgenti and

Cristiana Peano

An Interpretive Framework for Assessing and Monitoring the Sustainability of

School Gardens

Reprinted from: Sustainability 2016, 8(8), 801

http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/801 .................................................................... 221

Puchong Sri-uam, Seri Donnuea, Sorawit Powtongsook and Prasert Pavasant

Integrated Multi-Trophic Recirculating Aquaculture System for Nile Tilapia

(Oreochlomis niloticus)

Reprinted from: Sustainability 2016, 8(7), 592

http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/592 .................................................................... 242

George Martin, Roland Clift and Ian Christie

Urban Cultivation and Its Contributions to Sustainability: Nibbles of Food but

Oodles of Social Capital

Reprinted from: Sustainability 2016, 8(5), 409

http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/5/409 .................................................................... 261

Matthew Heron Wilson and Sarah Taylor Lovell

Agroforestry—The Next Step in Sustainable and Resilient Agriculture

Reprinted from: Sustainability 2016, 8(6), 574

http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/6/574 .................................................................... 287

Paul Vincelli

Genetic Engineering and Sustainable Crop Disease Management: Opportunities

for Case-by-Case Decision-Making

Reprinted from: Sustainability 2016, 8(5), 495

http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/5/495 .................................................................... 308

VII

List of Contributors

Luis J. Belmonte A. R. College of Pharmacy and G H Patel Institute of pharmacy,

Vallabh Vidyanagar, Dist. Anand (Gujarat) – 388120, India.

Eddie A. M. Bokkers Animal Production Systems Group, Wageningen

University, P.O. Box 338, 6700 AH Wageningen, The Netherlands.

Natalia Brzezina Sustainable Food Economies Research Group, KU Leuven,

Leuven 3001, Belgium.

Ian Christie Centre for Environmental Strategy, University of Surrey, Guildford

GU2 7XH, UK.

Roland Clift Centre for Environmental Strategy, University of Surrey, Guildford

GU2 7XH, UK.

Xiaoyi Cui Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Guelph,

50 Stone Rd E, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada.

Imke J. M. de Boer Animal Production Systems Group, Wageningen University,

P.O. Box 338, 6700 AH Wageningen, The Netherlands.

Evelien M. de Olde Department of Engineering, Aarhus University, Inge

Lehmanns Gade 10, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark; Animal Production Systems Group,

Wageningen University, P.O. Box 338, 6700 AH Wageningen, The Netherlands.

Seri Donnuea Center of Excellence for Marine Biotechnology, Department of

Marine Science, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Payathai Road,

Pathumwan, Bangkok 10300, Thailand; National Center for Genetic Engineering

and Biotechnology, National Science and Technology Development Agency,

Pathum Thani 12120, Thailand.

Alfredo J. Escribano Independent Researcher and Consultant, C/Rafael Alberti 24,

Cáceres 10005, Spain.

Eihab Fathelrahman Julius Kühn-Institut, Federal Research Centre for Cultivated

Plants, Institute for Plant Protection in Field Crops and Grassland, Messeweg 11-12,

38104 Braunschweig, Germany.

Daniela Fiorito Department of Agricultural and Forest Sciences (SAF), University

of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 11-90128 Palermo, Italy.

Vincenzo Girgenti Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences

(DISAFA), University of Torino, Largo Paolo Braccini 2, Grugliasco, 10095 Torino,

Italy.

VIII

Thomas Hahn Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, SE-106 91

Stockholm, Sweden.

Carlos Herrero-Sánchez A. R. College of Pharmacy and G H Patel Institute of

pharmacy, Vallabh Vidyanagar, Dist. Anand (Gujarat) – 388120, India.

Lifen Huang Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Guelph, 50

Stone Rd E, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada.

Thomas Koellner Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Geosciences, University of

Bayreuth, BayCEER, Bayreuth 95440, Germany.

Birgit Kopainsky System Dynamics Group, University of Bergen, Bergen 5020,

Norway.

Markus Larsson Division of Environmental Strategies Research (fms), KTH Royal

Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden.

Saem Lee Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Geosciences, University of Bayreuth,

BayCEER, Bayreuth 95440, Germany.

Sarah Taylor Lovell 1009 Plant Sciences Laboratory, Department of Crop Sciences,

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.

George Martin Centre for Environmental Strategy, University of Surrey,

Guildford GU2 7XH, UK.

Erik Mathijs Sustainable Food Economies Research Group, KU Leuven,

Leuven 3001, Belgium.

Rebecka Milestad Division of Environmental Strategies Research (fms), KTH

Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden.

Safdar Muhummad Julius Kühn-Institut, Federal Research Centre for Cultivated

Plants, Institute for Plant Protection in Field Crops and Grassland, Messeweg 11-12,

38104 Braunschweig, Germany.

Trung Thanh Nguyen Institute for Environmental Economics and World Trade,

Leibniz University of Hannover, Hannover 30167, Germany.

Frank W. Oudshoorn Department of Engineering, Aarhus University, Inge

Lehmanns Gade 10, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark; SEGES, Agro Food Park 15,

8200 Aarhus N, Denmark.

Prasert Pavasant School of Energy Science and Engineering, Vidyasirimedhi

Institute of Science and Technology, Rayong 21210, Thailand; Chemical

Engineering Research Unit for Value Adding of Bioresources, Department of

Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University,

Bangkok 10330, Thailand.

Cristiana Peano Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences (DISAFA),

University of Torino, Largo Paolo Braccini 2, Grugliasco, 10095 Torino, Italy.

Patrick Poppenborg Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Geosciences, University of

Bayreuth, BayCEER, Bayreuth 95440, Germany.

Sorawit Powtongsook Center of Excellence for Marine Biotechnology,

Department of Marine Science, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University,

Payathai Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10300, Thailand; National Center for

Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, National Science and Technology

Development Agency, Pathum Thani 12120, Thailand.

Hio-Jung Shin Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Kangwon

National University, 1 Kangwondaehak-gil, Chuncheon-si, Gangwon-do 24341,

Republic of Korea.

Francesco Sottile Department of Agricultural and Forest Sciences (SAF),

University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 11-90128 Palermo, Italy.

Claus A. G. Sørensen Department of Engineering, Aarhus University, Inge

Lehmanns Gade 10, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark.

Puchong Sri-uam Chemical Engineering Research Unit for Value Adding of

Bioresources, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering,

Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.

Anke Stubsgaard SEGES, Agro Food Park 15, 8200 Aarhus N, Denmark.

Rafi Ullah Tasbih Ullah Julius Kühn-Institut, Federal Research Centre for

Cultivated Plants, Institute for Plant Protection in Field Crops and Grassland,

Messeweg 11-12, 38104 Braunschweig, Germany.

Nadia Tecco Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences (DISAFA),

University of Torino, Largo Paolo Braccini 2, Grugliasco, 10095 Torino, Italy.

Juan Torres A. R. College of Pharmacy and G H Patel Institute of pharmacy,

Vallabh Vidyanagar, Dist. Anand (Gujarat) – 388120, India; Department of

Applied Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Medical University of Lublin, 1 Chodzki

Str. 20-093, Lublin, Poland.

Diego L. Valera A. R. College of Pharmacy and G H Patel Institute of pharmacy,

Vallabh Vidyanagar, Dist. Anand (Gujarat) – 388120, India.

Paul Vincelli Department of Plant Pathology, 207 Plant Science Building, College

of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Kentucky, Lexington,

KY 40546, USA.

Jacob von Oelreich Division of Environmental Strategies Research (fms), KTH

Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden.

Shouhong Wang College of Information Science and Technology, Chengdu

University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China.

Matthew Heron Wilson 1105 Plant Sciences Laboratory, Department of Crop

Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.

Huozhong Yang Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Guelph,

50 Stone Rd E, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada.

Jie Yang Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Guelph,

50 Stone Rd E, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada.

Hengyang Zhuang Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of

Guelph, 50 Stone Rd E, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada.

About the Guest Editor

Sean Clark is Professor of Agriculture

and Natural Resources at Berea College

and Director of the Berea College Farm.

He regularly teaches undergraduate

courses in farm management, food

systems, horticulture, beekeeping, and

aquaculture and occasionally offers

international courses in farming, field

ecology, and entomology. He facilitates a

summer undergraduate internship

program on the college’s student farm.

The farm, which includes a student-run

campus farm store, serves both as an

educational laboratory and a model of

sustainable regional agriculture. The farm

internship program emphasizes critical

inquiry, practical experience and

innovative problem-solving. His research activities have included studies of soil

biology and chemistry in organic and conventional farming systems, waste

management and nutrient cycling, evaluations of appropriate technology and

production methods for small-scale organic farming, and assessments of the

environmental impacts of agriculture. He currently serves as a technical advisor

for the Organic Association of Kentucky. A list of publications can be found at:

https://www.berea.edu/anr/faculty-and-staff/dr-sean-clark/

XIII

Preface to “Sustainable Agriculture–Beyond

Organic Farming”

The current conception of organic farming—as an agricultural production

system based on ecological understanding in contrast to one reliant upon external

inputs, particularly synthetic agrichemicals and fertilizer—is the result of nearly a

century of intellectual thought and dialogue, field observations and experiences,

systematic experimentation, and codification of rules. Debates on the future

viability of organic farming often focus on its capacity to produce sufficient food

to meet the demands of a growing human population. Yet any thorough

examination of the pros and cons of alternative farming approaches should

consider much more—for example the side effects on soil, water and air; energy

and land-use efficiency; global warming potential; conservation of biodiversity;

waste minimization and recycling; farmer and community well-being; animal

welfare; and the capacity to function and meet demands long into the future.

Today, organic farming is widely acknowledged as a viable alternative to

conventional production under many conditions and certified organic foods are

increasingly sought out by consumers concerned about environmental issues and

human health. Considerable research supports the validity of such consumer

choices. Organic products typically contain lower levels of pesticides and

antibiotics, soil quality is generally improved and water pollution reduced on

organic farms, and biodiversity is often greater in organic production systems

compared to their conventional counterparts. Crops once thought to be impossible

to raise organically are now widely found on grocery store shelves.

Research findings also show the trade-offs in productivity and efficiency that

accompany the adoption of organic farming. Such systems often do not match

conventional agriculture in measures such as in yield per unit of land or per unit

of labor, as well as in costs of production (not including externalities). As a

consequence, price premiums are often needed to make production economically

viable for farmers. Higher prices, of course, put some products out of reach for

lower income families and communities, prompting criticism by some that organic

farming is elitist. Organic standards today also may not explicitly or sufficiently

address important public concerns about climate change, animal welfare and the

quality of life provided to farmers, farm workers and others in the supply chain.

It is important to recognize that organic agriculture is evolving. Rather than a

static set of rules, the requirements, technologies, inputs and management

practices comprising organic farming change as our understanding improves, new

technologies become available, and the stakeholders involved with the political

process that governs certification amend the rules. Research and debate today will

help to shape organic farming in the future.

XIV

The chapters in this book represent perspectives on organic farming and food

systems from widely different academic disciplines and different regions of the

world. They include replicated field experiments, modelling, systems analyses,

case studies and literature reviews. They address issues from the field-plot scale,

such as resource-use efficiency in crop production, to the resilience of entire

national food systems. Some chapters tackle controversial topics in organic

farming, such as aquaculture and the use of genetically modified organisms. Some

authors focus on the challenges to producers, while others examine consumer

behavior and the education of the next generation of global citizens and decision-

makers in the food system—today’s children.

This book is composed of three sections. Authors in the first section—

Performance of Organic Farming—examine how well organic and transitional

production systems meet environmental, economic and social objectives and how

performance could be improved. In the second section—Farming to Food

Systems—the focus expands beyond crop and livestock production to consider

other stakeholders forming food supply chains. The last section—Beyond Organic:

Shaping Future Farming and Food Systems—delves into some vigorously debated

topics that have the potential to substantially change future farming and food

systems.

Two decades ago, few would have envisioned the expansion of organic

farming and the dramatic growth in organic food sales that followed. Likewise,

predictions about the state of organic food and farming decades from now would

be fraught with the same uncertainty. Still, the improved understanding we gain

from the contributions of researchers and thinkers today will influence production

practices and food-system policies tomorrow. The findings, interpretations, and

ideas shared in this book will likely generate as many questions as answers, but

asking the relevant and difficult questions is as critical to progress as finding the

right answers. This impressive and diverse group of authors makes interesting

and useful contributions to our ongoing conversations about food, agriculture and

the evolution of organic farming.

Sean Clark

Guest Editor

Section 1:

Performance of Organic Farming

Assessing the Sustainability Performance

of Organic Farms in Denmark

Evelien M. de Olde, Frank W. Oudshoorn, Eddie A. M. Bokkers,

Anke Stubsgaard, Claus A. G. Sørensen and Imke J. M. de Boer

Abstract:

The growth of organic agriculture in Denmark raises the interest of both

producers and consumers in the sustainability performance of organic production.

The aim of this study was to examine the sustainability performance of farms in

four agricultural sectors (vegetable, dairy, pig and poultry) using the sustainability

assessment tool RISE 2.0. Thirty seven organic farms were assessed on 10 themes,

including 51 subthemes. For one theme (water use) and 17 subthemes, a difference

between sectors was found. Using the thresholds of RISE, the vegetable, dairy and

pig sector performed positively for seven themes and the poultry sector for eight

themes. The performance on the nutrient ﬂows and energy and climate themes,

however, was critical for all sectors. Moreover, the performance on the economic

viability theme was critical for vegetable, dairy and pig farms. The development

of a tool, including decisions, such as the selection of themes and indicators,

reference values, weights and aggregation methods, inﬂuences the assessment

results. This emphasizes the need for transparency and reﬂection on decisions

made in sustainability assessment tools. The results of RISE present a starting point

to discuss sustainability at the farm-level and contribute to an increase in awareness

and learning about sustainability.

Reprinted from Sustainability. Cite as: de Olde, E.M.; Oudshoorn, F.W.;

Bokkers, E.A.M.; Stubsgaard, A.; Sørensen, C.A.G.; de Boer, I.J.M. Assessing the

Sustainability Performance of Organic Farms in Denmark. Sustainability

2016

, 8, 957.

1. Introduction

A large number of sustainability assessment tools have been developed

to gain insight into the sustainability performance of farms [

]. These tools

generally integrate a wide range of themes and indicators to develop a holistic

view on farm-level sustainability and are used for different purposes, such as

monitoring, certiﬁcation, consumer information, farm advice and research [

Applying sustainability assessment tools can help to identify challenges, related

to environmental, economic and social impact, in the development of sustainable

food production systems in conventional and organic agriculture [

–

]. On-farm

assessment tools, however, show a large diversity in, for example, data, time and

budget requirements, measurement and aggregation methods, output accuracy and

complexity [

]. These differences should become more explicit when choosing a

tool [

]. Moreover, after a sustainability assessment, additional efforts are needed to

discuss the assessment outcomes with farmers and other stakeholders and translate

them into meaningful decisions for change [2,9].

Studies on organic agriculture provide divergent views on its sustainability and

potential to contribute to global food security [

–

]. Especially yield differences

between conventional and organic agriculture are a topic of discussion [

–

Differences in yields are highly dependent on system and site characteristics (e.g.,

available nutrients and technology) [

]. Yields in organic farming are generally

lower compared to conventional yields. Lower yields, on the one hand, are associated

with a higher land use and, for example, higher global warming potential per kg

live weight of pigs [

]. On the other hand, the restricted use of pesticides and

mineral fertilizers in organic agriculture can have a positive effect on biodiversity

and enhance ecosystem services [

]. From an economic and social perspective,

organic agriculture is often associated with the use of local resources (i.e., local seed

varieties, manure), beneﬁts for animal welfare and opportunities to increase farmers’

income and livelihood [10,13,20,21].

Organic agriculture in the European Union has increased over the past decades

and currently accounts for about 5.7% of the agricultural area [

]. The consumption

of organic products is increasing as well, and is worldwide the highest per capita in

Switzerland, Luxembourg and Denmark [

]. Market shares of organic retail sales

are highest in Denmark (7.6%), Switzerland (7.1%) and Austria (6.5%) [

]. Denmark,

therefore, can be considered a pioneer in organic food production, with an expected

ongoing growth in organic food consumption [

]. At the same time, producers and

consumers are increasingly interested in getting insight in, and the development of,

the sustainability performance of organic production [24,25].

The sustainability assessment tool RISE (Response-Inducing Sustainability

Evaluation) [

] is used in Denmark to assess the sustainability performance of

organic farms and to guide farmers in producing more sustainably [

]. This

tool was selected based on the European project STOAS (Sustainability Training for

Organic Advisors), in which experiences with different sustainability assessment

tools were gathered [

]. The objectives of the present study were to analyze the

sustainability performance of organic farms in Denmark using the RISE 2.0 tool and

to analyze differences in the performance among a diversity of agricultural sectors

(i.e., vegetable, dairy, pigs and poultry production). First, we describe the RISE

tool and elaborate on the methods for data collection and assessment. Second, we

present the RISE assessment results of Danish organic farms and discuss differences

between sectors. Third, we reﬂect on the approaches in RISE to assess sustainability

performance and discuss the implications of our ﬁndings for organic agriculture in

Denmark and, more generally, for assessing sustainability at the farm level.