Different farming systems use varying amounts of energy. The reckoning of all the carbon emissions produced in the growing, processing and distribution of our food starts in the field. Measuring the environmental impact, from fork to plate, is known as the life cycle.
Organic farming uses less energy because it relies much less heavily on fertilisers and chemicals used in intensive farming, the manufacture of which creates greenhouse gases.
The study found that organic production of 1kg of winter wheat crop was the equivalent of driving 1.5 km where conventional was 3.4 km.
For 1kg of pork produced organically drove 17.4km with conventional up at 25.8 km.
And producing 1kg of cheese from 10 lires of milk took organic 65.5km with conventional hitting 71.4 km.
When it came to diet choices, organic was also a ‘low-km’ winner.
The study found an overall ‘eat everything’ diet including meat, dairy, fruit and veg took a conventional eater 4758km from their starting point, with organic travelling 381km less at 4377km.
And where food choices were no-meat, no-dairy and organic, eater’s footprints were further reduced to a car-trip covering a mere 281km, 6.8% of the conventional original drive, and 348km lower than a conventional vegetarian diet.
The only area an organic approach didn’t come out in front was meat production from feedlots – organic was the equivalent of driving 113.4km, compared to 70.6 km for conventional.
Dr Andrew Monk, Biological Farmers of Australia Standards Chair, said it was important to remember figures were not always relevant to Australia because production methods varied.
He said conscious consumers would fare best by focusing on the whole ‘package’, not just on CO2 emissions, even if organic was a winner in this field.
“For example, we should also take into consideration issues like growth hormones, excessive feed requirements and animal welfare in meat production” he said.
He said there was no doubt organic food was more in tune with its environment.
“Organic systems do not use fossil-fuel based chemicals that emit nitrous oxides and damage microbial soil life – the bedrock of fixing carbon in soil” he said.
Quentin Wright, organic meat producer from the NSW Northern Tablelands, says where operations were organic, business depended on doing things the right way by the environment.
Under organic management, tests have found his soil has higher carbon levels than neighbouring lands.
“We stopped using chemical fertiliser and changed our grazing system to cell grazing – a form of rotational grazing – 14 years ago,” said Mr. Wright.
“Recent soil tests comparing soil from the neighbouring National Park forest and our grazing land showed our Soil Organic Carbon level was 66% higher than that in the forest.
“This suggests to me we have a production system in place that not only benefits from nil use of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, but sequesters soil carbon as well, and goes some way to balancing our footprint.”