Organic Farming as a Pathway toward Carbon-Neutral Agriculture: Opportunities, Limits and Future Directions

Abstract

Agriculture and agrifood systems are important contributors to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, with emissions arising from livestock, rice cultivation, land-use change, crop-residue burning and fossil-fuel use. This narrative review evaluates organic farming as a possible pathway towards carbon-neutral agriculture in comparison with conventional systems. The review synthesises evidence on carbon neutrality assessment, including emissions inventories, life-cycle assessment, carbon-footprint calculation, carbon sequestration measurement and third-party verification. It also examines organic practices such as crop rotation, cover cropping, biofertiliser use, green manuring, conservation agriculture and agroforestry. The evidence indicates that organic farming can improve soil organic carbon storage, reduce reliance on synthetic nitrogen fertilisers and lower nitrous oxide emissions through slower nitrogen release, reduced mineral nitrogen pools and more continuous plant cover. Comparative studies also suggest higher carbon sequestration efficiency under organic management, including 42.8 per cent under organic agriculture compared with 21.6 per cent under conventional management in a long-term trial. However, the climate benefits of organic farming are context-dependent and must be assessed across soil, crop, livestock and landscape scales. Methane emissions may be comparable with, or higher than, conventional systems when assessed per unit of output, particularly in rice and livestock systems, and lower yields may reduce benefits when emissions are expressed per unit of product. For tropical regions, including India and other Global South contexts, organic farming combined with agroforestry, conservation agriculture, biofertilisers and improved residue management offers relevant mitigation and adaptation options. Remaining uncertainties include long-term methane dynamics, yield-scaled emissions, whole-farm carbon balances and site-specific optimisation under tropical and subtropical conditions.