Nature Communications· 2018Q1· Review
A global meta-analysis of yield stability in organic and conservation agriculture
- 521citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2018year
Short summary
Organic agriculture shows 15% lower temporal yield stability per unit yield compared to conventional farming, despite environmental benefits. Conservation agriculture (no-tillage) does not significantly differ in yield stability from conventional methods.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Organic agriculture has 15% lower temporal yield stability per unit yield than conventional agriculture.
- Conservation agriculture (no-tillage) shows no significant difference in yield stability compared to conventional tillage.
- Green manure and enhanced fertilization can reduce the yield stability gap in organic farming.
- The analysis is based on 193 studies and 2896 comparisons globally.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
One of the primary challenges of our time is to enhance global food production and security. Most assessments in agricultural systems focus on plant yield. Yet, these analyses neglect temporal yield stability, or the variability and reliability of production across years. Here we perform a meta-analysis to assess temporal yield stability of three major cropping systems: organic agriculture and conservation agriculture (no-tillage) vs. conventional agriculture, comparing 193 studies based on 2896 comparisons. Organic agriculture has, per unit yield, a significantly lower temporal stability (-15%) compared to conventional agriculture. Thus, although organic farming promotes biodiversity and is generally more environmentally friendly, future efforts should focus on reducing its yield variability. Our analysis further indicates that the use of green manure and enhanced fertilisation can reduce the yield stability gap between organic and conventional agriculture. The temporal stability (-3%) of no-tillage does not differ significantly from those of conventional tillage indicating that a transition to no-tillage does not affect yield stability.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Nature Communications, 2018 · DOI ↗
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Field: Agronomy and Crop Science
Agronomy and Crop ScienceAgricultural and Biological Sciences