Photo credit: Neil Palmer (CIAT)

Agriculture accounts for 35% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, but a new study supports the idea that conversion to organic agriculture may be a climate-change solution. A recent study published in Science Bulletin supports previous research by showing that organic farming methods could mitigate climate change by sequestering carbon in the soil and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. Researchers found that practices such as replacing chemical fertilizers with organic manure and using crop residues as forage for cattle significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions and increased storage of carbon in the soils. “Solely utilizing chemical fertilizer on the farmland not only led to increased greenhouse gas emissions, but also deteriorated the quality of the soil,” according to the findings.