Sorry—organic farming is actually worse for climate change Organic farming can cut direct greenhouse-gas emissions, but it would also reduce yields. To compensate for that would require more land to produce the same amount of food. If half of that land was converted from grasslands, which store carbon in plant tissues, roots, and soil, it would boost overall greenhouse-gas emissions by 21%.

Researchers are trying to develop organic farming inputs that can cut emissions without reducing yields and crops that take up more of the nitrogen in soil.

By James Temple The practice cuts greenhouse-gas emissions only if you ignore the inconvenient fact that it requires a lot more land. Organic practices can reduce climate pollution produced directly from farming – which would be fantastic if they didn’t also require more land to produce the same amount of food. Clearing additional grasslands or forests to grow.