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Are Organic Standards Sufficient to Ensure Sustainable Agriculture? Lessons From New Zealand’s ARGOS and Sustainability Dashboard Projects

Author

Listed:
  • Merfield, Charles
  • Moller, Henrik
  • Manhire, Jon
  • Rosin, Chris
  • Norton, Solis
  • Carey, Peter
  • Hunt, Lesley
  • Reid, John
  • Fairweather, John
  • Benge, Jayson
  • Quellec, Isabelle Le
  • Campbell, Hugh
  • Lucock, David
  • Saunders, Caroline
  • MacLeod, Catriona
  • Barber, Andrew
  • McCarthy, Alaric

Abstract

Our review concludes that organic standards need to account for a broader set of criteria in order to retain claims to ‘sustainability’. Measurements of the ecological, economic and social outcomes from over 96 kiwifruit, sheep/beef and dairy farms in New Zealand between 2004 and 2012 by The Agricultural Research Group on Sustainability (ARGOS) project showed some enhanced ecosystem services from organic agriculture that will assist a “land-sharing” approach for sustainable land management. However, the efficiency of provisioning services is reduced in organic systems and this potentially undermines a “land-sparing” strategy to secure food security and ecosystem services. Other aspects of the farm operation that are not considered in the organic standards sometimes had just as much or even a greater effect on ecosystem services than restriction of chemical inputs and synthetic fertilisers. An organic farming version of the New Zealand Sustainability Dashboard will integrate organic standards and wider agricultural best practice into a broad and multidimensional sustainability assessment framework and package of learning tools. There is huge variation in performance of farms within a given farming system. Therefore improving ecosystem services depends as much on locally tuned learning and adjustments of farm practice on individual farms as on uptake of organic or Integrated Management farming system protocols.

Suggested Citation

  • Merfield, Charles & Moller, Henrik & Manhire, Jon & Rosin, Chris & Norton, Solis & Carey, Peter & Hunt, Lesley & Reid, John & Fairweather, John & Benge, Jayson & Quellec, Isabelle Le & Campbell, Hugh , 2015. "Are Organic Standards Sufficient to Ensure Sustainable Agriculture? Lessons From New Zealand’s ARGOS and Sustainability Dashboard Projects," Sustainable Agriculture Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 4(3 Special).
  • Handle: RePEc:ags:ccsesa:230390
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.230390
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Vogl, Christian R. & Kummer, Susanne & Leitgeb, Friedrich & Schunko, Christoph & Aigner, Magdalena, 2015. "Keeping the Actors in the Organic System Learning: The Role of Organic Farmers’ Experiments," Sustainable Agriculture Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 4(3 Special).
    2. Kopke, Ulrich & Athmann, Miriam & Han, Eusun & Kautz, Timo, 2015. "Optimising Cropping Techniques for Nutrient and Environmental Management in Organic Agriculture," Sustainable Agriculture Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 4(3 Special).
    3. Niggli, Urs, 2015. "Incorporating Agroecology Into Organic Research –An Ongoing Challenge," Sustainable Agriculture Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 4(3 Special).
    4. Vaarst, Mette, 2015. "The Role of Animals in Eco-functional Intensification of Organic Agriculture," Sustainable Agriculture Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 4(3 Special).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Evelien M. De Olde & Frank W. Oudshoorn & Eddie A. M. Bokkers & Anke Stubsgaard & Claus A. G. Sørensen & Imke J. M. De Boer, 2016. "Assessing the Sustainability Performance of Organic Farms in Denmark," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-20, September.
    2. Mallory, Ellen B. & Halberg, Niels & Andreasen, Lise & Delate, Kathleen & Ngouajio, Mathieu, 2015. "Innovations in Organic Food Systems for Sustainable Production and Ecosystem Services: An Introduction to the Special Issue of Sustainable Agriculture Research," Sustainable Agriculture Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 4(3 Special).
    3. Evelien M. de Olde & Henrik Moller & Fleur Marchand & Richard W. McDowell & Catriona J. MacLeod & Marion Sautier & Stephan Halloy & Andrew Barber & Jayson Benge & Christian Bockstaller & Eddie A. M. B, 2017. "When experts disagree: the need to rethink indicator selection for assessing sustainability of agriculture," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1327-1342, August.
    4. Hugo F. Alrøe & Marion Sautier & Katharine Legun & Jay Whitehead & Egon Noe & Henrik Moller & Jon Manhire, 2017. "Performance versus Values in Sustainability Transformation of Food Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-31, February.

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