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Organic farming offers promising mitigation potential in dairy systems without compromising economic performances

Author

Listed:
  • Mathieu Lambotte

    (CESAER - Centre d'Economie et de Sociologie Rurales Appliquées à l'Agriculture et aux Espaces Ruraux - UBFC - Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté [COMUE] - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Dijon - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement)

  • Stéphane de Cara

    (UMR PSAE - Paris-Saclay Applied Economics - AgroParisTech - Université Paris-Saclay - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

  • Catherine Brocas

    (IDELE - Institut de l'élevage)

  • Valentin Bellassen

    (CESAER - Centre d'Economie et de Sociologie Rurales Appliquées à l'Agriculture et aux Espaces Ruraux - UBFC - Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté [COMUE] - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Dijon - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement)

Abstract

There is a lack of clear empirical evidence towards the lower carbon footprint of organic food products, in particular in the dairy sector. Until now, small sample sizes, lack of properly defined counterfactual and the omission of land-use related emissions have hindered comparisons of organic and conventional products. Here we bridge these gaps by mobilizing a uniquely large dataset of 3,074 French dairy farms. Using propensity score weighting, we find that the carbon footprint of organic milk is 19% (95%CI = [10%-28%]) lower than its conventional counterpart without indirect land-use change and 11% (95%CI = [5%-17%]) lower with indirect land use changes. In both production systems, farms' profitability is similar. We simulate the consequences of the Green deal target of 25% of agricultural land devoted to organic dairy farming and show that this policy would reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of the French dairy sector by 9.01 to 9.64%.

Suggested Citation

  • Mathieu Lambotte & Stéphane de Cara & Catherine Brocas & Valentin Bellassen, 2023. "Organic farming offers promising mitigation potential in dairy systems without compromising economic performances," Post-Print hal-03995376, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03995376
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.117405
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-03995376
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    Keywords

    organic farming; greenhouse gas emissions; gross margin; dairy farms; land use changes; Green Deal;
    All these keywords.

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