Do you need to buy organic food to cut your carbon footprint? The answer is no, it is not necessary to do so. The evidence is mixed as to whether it is better for the environment when research compares organic farming to conventional farming.

The only way to stop global warming is to cut carbon emissions. The world is warming up because we are producing more greenhouse gases than the environment can absorb. Our food system contributes up to a third of global greenhouse gas emissions but the reasons are not related to organic farming.

Our main problem with our food system is that it takes up too much land to feed the population and this will be a bigger issue as the global population is expected to peak at ten billion this century. Emissions from this sector have to come down but solutions lie elsewhere.

What is ‘organic food’?

Organic food is food that has not been produced with anything artificial such as genetically modified ingredients, artificial fertilisers and synthetic pesticides. Organic farming is different from ‘conventional farming’ because conventional farms use synthetic inputs in food production. Organic farms use natural inputs such as compost, animal manure and other animal byproducts. About 2% of agricultural land produces organic food.  

Organic food is better for biodiversity

Biodiversity is about the variety of animals and plants on the planet. Biodiversity has been on the decline and since 1970, it has reduced by 73% worldwide. We depend on biodiversity for our food and medicine and this is at risk in the coming decades.

Conventional farming can be bad for the environment because it uses more pesticides and pesticides reduce the biodiversity in fields. Pesticides are damaging to soil organisms and harm populations of insects. Airborne pesticides hurt wild plant diversity in nearby fields and contribute to the decline of pollinators, amphibians and mammals such as birds and bats.

Since organic food has less pesticides, it does not affect the biodiversity of the environment as much as conventional farming. But organic farming does have its downsides and can have a harmful impact on the environment too. Manure can wash into rivers and lakes and cause imbalances in the ecosystem.

Organic food will not reduce carbon emissions

Our global food system creates a third of all greenhouse emissions and needs to be redesigned but the evidence suggests organic food will not play a big role in reducing carbon emissions.

The main problem with organic farming is that it produces lower yields compared to conventional farming. Since organic farming produces less food per hectare, more land would be needed to produce the same amount of food. If we went down this route, we would need to clear even more land for agriculture, leading to more deforestation and more carbon emissions released into the atmosphere.

Supporting biodiversity is a separate issue from cutting your carbon footprint. When it comes to reducing your carbon footprint from food, there are three things to think about. What matters most is what you are eating. This means reducing meat, especially beef and lamb, and dairy as well. We should be moving towards a plant-based diet where meat only makes up a third of your diet. Half of agricultural land is used for raising farm animals, which is why cutting the amount of meat we eat by a fraction would make such a big difference to land needed for food. Ten billion people can be fed on a plant-based diet with only a fraction of the land that we use today.

The second most important thing is to minimise food waste. This involves not buying more food than you need, eating everything you buy and composting left overs. Food waste is a big problem globally and it create methane, a greenhouse gas, when it goes to landfill. We waste 20-40% of food produced globally and we could save billions of tonnes of greenhouse gases a year if we dealt with this problem properly.

What matters after these factors is where your food comes from. Aim to buy seasonally and this will further reduce your carbon footprint. As most food from abroad comes by boat, the carbon footprint is not as high as one might expect.

When you are in the supermarket next time, don’t be concerned about whether your food is organic from an ‘carbon footprint’ perspective. It does not matter whether you buy it or not. We do face a biodiversity crisis and organic farming can help with the negative impact of pesticides on animals. But the scale of the problem of the food industry means we cannot wholly rely on it as a solution to get to Net Zero.