Book Chapter 1 (Organic Agriculture and Climate Change)

Climate and Environmental Changes: Impact, Challenges and Solutions A Proceeding book of National Conference Sponsored by CST, UP Organized by Sacred Heart Degree College, Sitapur in Collaboration with DDUGDC Sitapur on Feb 28- March 1, 2017 Editors Dr. Yogesh Chandra Dixit Dr. Himanshu Trivedi Climate and Environmental Changes: Impact, Challenges and Solutions A Proceeding book of National Conference Sponsored by CST, UP Organized by Department of Zoology Sacred Heart Degree College, Sitapur A Minority Institution Accredited by NAAC with Grade-B (Ailiated to CSJM University Kanpur) in Collaboration with DDUGDC Sitapur on Feb 28- March 1, 2017 Editors Dr. Yogesh Chandra Dixit Head, Deptt of Zoology Deptt of Zoology Sacred Heart degree College Sitapur shdcstp@gmail.com Dr. Himanshu Trivedi Assistant Professor Deptt of Agricultural Sciences and Engeneering IFTM University Moradabad www.shdcstp.org First published in India in 2017 by Invincible Publishers Copyright Dr. Yogesh Chandra Dixit and Dr. Himanshu Trivedi 2017 ISBN: 978-93-86148-89-6 Dr. Yogesh Chandra Dixit and Dr. Himanshu Trivedi assert the moral right to be identiied as the authors of this work. he authors are solely responsible for the contents of the papers compiled in this volume. he publishers or editors do not take any responsibility for the same in any manner. Errors, if any are purely unintentional and readers are requested to communicate such errors to the editors or publishers or authors to avoid discrepancies in future. Invincible Publishers G - 120, Sushant Lok III, Sector 57, Gurgaon-122022 ---------Opposite Kasturba Ashram, Radaur Distt Yamuna Nagar, Haryana- 135133 Content Sl no. Title and Author(s) Page No. 1 Regulation of Global Warming for Cleaner Environment Renu Rastogi 1 2 Mosquito Population: Impact of Climate And Environmental Changes And Its Management Strategies Kalpana Singh and Shilpa Nandan 7 3 Biodiversity of Cyanobacteria (Blue Green Algae) in Rice Fields Of Rawatpur, Unnao District Hemant Kumar and Jitendra Mohan 16 4 Behaviour of Silver Pheasant (Lophura-nycthemera) Dr. Rachana Singh 24 5 Efect of Climatic Changes on Forensic Entomo Fauna. Reema Sonker and Kalpana Singh 30 6 Impact of Climate and Environmental Changes ON Muscid Flies Kalpana Singh 36 7 Biological Detergent for A Sustainable Environment Rita Awasthi, Deepti Shikha and Sanjay Kumar Awasthi 40 8 Biodiversity of Sarcophagid Flies Kalpana Singh* Anil Kumar and Reema Sonker 48 9 Organic Agriculture and Climate Change Virendra Singh and Satybhan Singh 54 10 House Plants: Let the Nature Step In Himanshu Trivedi, Shama Parveen, Parul Punetha1, Shailja Punetha2 Yogesh Chandra Dixit 74 11 Scope of Organic Vegetable Production Shailaja Punetha1, Parul Punetha2 Meenakshi Arya3& Himanshu Trivedi 85 12 Importance of Micro Organisms in Agriculture Satybhan Singh, Virendra Singh and Krishan Pal 93 13 Epidemiology of Potato Viral Diseases and heir Management A.N. Chaubey and R.S. Mishra 118 14 Digitalis: A Potential Cut Flower Parul Punetha1, Himanshu Trivedi2 and Shailja Punetha 135 15 Development Of Water Management Systems In India Nikhil Agnihotri, 139 16 Concept of Modern Irrigation Method for Crop Production Ram Kumar and Shikha Sachan 146 17 Enhancement of Water Use Eiciency In Irrigated Agriculture For Eicient Water Management Shikha Sachan,V. K. Chandola and Ram Kumar 151 18 Essential Oils: A New Frontier in Food Preservation Ritesh Mishra 162 19 Jatropha or Biofuel Endorsement in India Nikhil Agnihotri & Jitendra Mohan 181 20 CNSL – An Unique Biomaterial for Coatings Deepti Shikha & Rita Awasthi 188 21 he Conlict Between Seed Bill and PPVFR Act of India Shama Parveen, Himanshu Trivedi and Aradhana Singh 197 22 Fungal pathogens associated with some edible ishes of LakhimpurKheri District, Uttar Pradesh. Dixit, Y.C., 213 23 Roles of NGOs and heir Efects on Economy B. Mishra 224 24 Organic Farming and Green Growth For Sustainable Development Sunita Arya 227 25 Applications Of Nanotechnology In Health Sciences Nikhil Agnihotri & Sangita Avasthi 240 26 Natural Products – Drug for yesterday, today and tomorrow Dr. Krishna Kumar Singh 256 54 | Climate and Environmental changes: Impact,Challenges and Solutions ORGANIC AGRICULTURE AND CLIMATE CHANGE Virendra Singh and Satybhan Singh Department of Agricultural Sciences and Engineering, IFTM University, Moradabad- 244 102, India E mail: virendra.singhed@gmail.com INTRODUCTION: Climate change is a natural process but recent trends in climate change are alarming due to food security. Climate change before now also afected the people and ecosystem, presently a great challenge for the people especially for poor and developing community. Climate change is the signiicant challenge for crop production and food security in 21st century. Industrial and agriculture revolutions result in emission of several gasses, including carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). he increased level of greenhouse gasses has created green house efect which inluences the rainfall pattern and global temperature all around the world. Surface temperature is projected to rise over the 21st century under all assessed emission scenarios. It is very likely that heat waves will occur more oten and last longer, and that extreme precipitation events will become more intense and frequent in many regions. he ocean will continue to warm and acidify, and global mean sea level to rise (IPCC, 2014). here are various evidences that greenhouse gases are responsible for climate change. Emissions of greenhouse gasses may be reduced by minimize the use of fossil fuel and chemical fertilizers. Agriculture plays an important role in climate change due to the importance of climate change for agriculture’s production basis and because of the large emissions of greenhouse gases from agriculture. In agriculture is more important climate change challenge- it must adopt changes and at the same time reduce emission of greenhouse gasses. One third carbon dioxide come from changes in land use pattern by shiting cultivation, deforestation and intensiication of agriculture. Approximate most of the nitrous oxide and two third of methane emission comes from agriculture. 55 | Climate and Environmental changes: Impact,Challenges and Solutions Agriculture land use in 1990s has been responsible approximately 15 per cent of all greenhouse gasses emission. Farm yard manure, nitrogenous fertilizers and lowland paddy cultivation are said to be responsible for producing most agricultural nitrous oxide and methane emissions. Methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) are 23 and 296 times more powerful greenhouse gases than CO2, respectively. Intensiication of agriculture has consumed heavy amount of fossil fuel and chemical fertilizers, contributed expressively greenhouse gasses emissions. In last 40 years’ greenhouse gasses emission increased as double due to increase in the use of nitrogenous and phosphatic fertilizers in irrigated intensive cultivation (FAO, 2008). Globally, agriculture contributes 65-80% of total nitrous oxide, mainly from nitrogenous fertilizers. Nitrous oxide emissions from soils are due to the unproductive loss of mobile Nitrogen. Any nitrogen input (mineral and organic fertilizers, biologically ixed N, crop residues) and the mineralization of nitrogen compounds in soils, contribute to the emission of N2O. Especially in agricultural soils, elevated N2O production depends on the nitrogen fertilization level. Methane emission is mainly from paddy ields, burning of crop residues and ruminants. Inluences of climate change on agriculture are both negative and positive. For example, increase in temperature helps to cultivate crops on high altitude areas. It increases the length of growing season, allowing earlier sowing and harvesting. he increased temperature also supports the natural decomposing of organic matter at higher rate. Causes of climate change Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions have increased since the preindustrial era, driven largely by economic and population growth, and are now higher than ever. his has led to atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide that are unprecedented in at least the last 800,000 years. heir efects, together with those of other anthropogenic drivers, have been detected throughout the climate system and are extremely likely to have been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century. 56 | Climate and Environmental changes: Impact,Challenges and Solutions On other hand, higher temperature provides favorable conditions for insect pest. Higher temperature, longer growing period and high night temperature favors in multiplication of insect pests. Climate change disturbs the pattern and range of rainfall and evapotranspiration processes which afect soil moisture storage, run-of and water absorption by the plants. Both lack of and access of water afect the diferent stages of plant production. Moisture stress during lowering, pollination and grain-illing stage is harmful to most of the crops. Increased evaporation from soil and accelerated transpiration in the plants themselves will cause moisture stress condition. Researches have shown that increased concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere increases the likelihood of higher absorption of CO2 inside the plant through stomata during photosynthesis which provides carbohydrates for plant growth. Crop species vary in their response to CO2 according to their physiological class i.e. C3 versus C4 plants. he developing countries are already in poverty and food crises. Climate change also another challenge to meet them. Climate change will have serious impact on human life, environment and world economy. Poor people who are completely depend on agriculture mostly realized by climate change. Increasing crop failure and deaths of livestock are serious issue of economic losses with them. Drought and problem of drinking water are more frequent in tropics. he increased frequency of lood, drought and soil erosion decreases the productivity of agriculture sector. ORGANIC AGRICULTURE Organic agriculture is an old age practice in India. Organic manures were prepared and applied from ancient time in India. Before green revolution period the rate of national agriculture growth was not able to keep pace with population growth. his was the major factor for introduction and popularization of high yielding varieties of crops, which were responsive to chemical fertilizer and irrigation. As a result, total food grain production increased from 50.82 million tonnes in 1950-51 to 264.00 million tonnes in 201314. his increase can be attribute primarily adoption of high yielding varieties combined with other green revolution technologies in cereal 57 | Climate and Environmental changes: Impact,Challenges and Solutions crops specially wheat and rice, expansion of gross irrigated area and increase in fertilizer consumption (0.07 million tonnes in 1950-51 to 25.54 million tonnes in 2012-13). It changes in the position of India from a food importer to net food exporter in many commodities (Ravishankar et al., 2016) Efect of unscientiic use of chemical inputs under Green Revolution and the end result S. N. 1. Yield Sustainability Efect/End result · · Deinite deceleration of crop yields over years Crop failure and losses 2. Soil degradation · · · · Nutrients exhaustion, deiciencies and imbalances Salinity, sodality and acidity Reduced fertility and productivity Accumulation of toxic substances and heavy metals 3. Ground water · · Depletion and poor quality Extra cost and energy to lit · · Imbalance in soil lora and fauna and destruction Elimination of biodiversity and destruction of biological balance Elimination of natural enemies of pests viz. parasites and predators Resistance in pests to chemicals 4. Ecology · · 5. Environment · · Pollution of soil, water and air Accumulation of toxic heavy metals and nonbiodegradable substances from inputs 58 | Climate and Environmental changes: Impact,Challenges and Solutions 6. Social and economic problems · · · · · · · · Serious health hazards Permanent or partial disability of farm workers High inputs Proitability decline Loss increases Export constraints afecting national economy Rural economy ruined due to over-dependence of outside inputs like seed, fertilizers and plant protection chemicals he organic farming is a holistic production management system, which promotes and enhances agro ecosystem health, including bio-diversity, biological cycles and biological activities. One of the biggest outcomes of organic farming is healthy soil that is alive with beneicial organisms. If relies on a concept of “Farm as an Organism”. Organic farming excludes the use of certain synthetic inputs, such as synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and genetically modiied organisms (GMOs). In post, independent India, the farming relied on heavy and indiscriminate use of chemicals as fertilizers and pesticides suited to high yielding and nutrient responsive crop varieties. he excessive use of chemicals over the time has started posing problems to animal and human health due to persistency of residues in food items. Leaching down of chemicals from soil renders ground water unit for drinking and irrigation. Besides, the chemical residues also harm the beneicial soil microbes and fauna (earthworms) resulting in degradation of soil fertility. he pesticide problem got compounded in the country because many pesticides banned abroad are manufactured dumped and sold freely. Consequent upon these complications, farmers and policy makers are now pondering to “Can We Feed the World Better”? India has comparative advantage over many other countries because the vast cultivated areas remained free of contamination for chemicals. Northern and North Eastern hills and rainfed areas that rely on low to zero use of agro-chemicals, can be instantly converted to organic farming. Farmers in these areas oten use organic manure as a source of nutrients that are readily available either in their own farm or in their locality. “Organic” in agriculture is a trade term that denotes a product, 59 | Climate and Environmental changes: Impact,Challenges and Solutions produced/processed in accordance with set standards and duly certiied by an accredited certiication body. According to the Codex Alimentarius Commission, “organic agriculture is a holistic production management system that avoids use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and genetically modiied organisms, minimizes pollution of air, soil and water, and optimizes the health and productivity of interdependent communities of plants, animals and people” (CAC, 2001). To encounter these objectives, organic agriculture farmers need to implement a sequence of practices that optimize nutrient management and minimize risk, such as crop rotations, intercropping and improved crop diversiication, diferent combinations of livestock and plants, use of biofertilizers with legumes, application of organic manure and biological pest and weed control measures. All attempts should be focused on the utilization of on farm resources (Vogt, 2000). he formation of International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (FOAM) in 1972 at international level and National programme for Organic Production (NPOP) in 2002 in India brought about standards for production, processing and handling of organic products. Similarly, he Codex Alimentarius Commission, a joint FAO-WHO Food Standard Programme, has also developed guidelines for the production, processing, labeling and marketing of organically produced foods. In recent years, many countries have legislated organic production, including the EU nations (1990s), Japan (2001), and the US (2002). In world, 50.9 million ha area in 172 countries and with 2.5 million producer is under organic agriculture. India is highest number of producers (585200) followed by Ethiopia and Mexico (IFOAM, 2017). India’s rank in terms of World’s Organic Agricultural land was 15 as per 2013 data (Source FIBL & IFOAM Year Book 2015). he total area under organic certiication is 5.71 million ha (201516). his includes 26% cultivable area with 1.49 million ha and rest 74% (4.22 million ha) forest and wild area for collection of minor forest produces. India produced around 1.35 million MT (201516) of certiied organic products which includes all varieties of food products namely Sugarcane, Oil Seeds, Cereals & Millets, Cotton, 60 | Climate and Environmental changes: Impact,Challenges and Solutions Pulses, Medicinal Plants, Tea, Fruits, Spices, Dry Fruits, Vegetables, Cofee etc. . he production is not limited to the edible sector but also produces organic cotton iber, functional food products etc. Among all the states, Madhya Pradesh has covered largest area under organic certiication followed by Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. (APEDA, 2016). Sikkim state has been declared as organic state from January 2016 and has highest net sown area (100%) under organic certiication. Principles and Components of Organic Farming: According to the IFOAM the organic community has adopted four basic principles and may be classiied as organic agriculture: ฀ he principle of health ฀ he principle of ecology ฀ he principle of fairness ฀ he principle of care Essential components of organic farming are keeping the soil alive through efective management of natural resources. hey are as follows: ฀ Enrichment of Soil: Ends the use of chemicals, use crop residues as mulch, use of organic and biofertilizers, crop rotation and multiple cropping, avoid excess tilling of soil covered with green mulch or biological mulch. ฀ Management of temperature: Keep soil covered, plant trees and bushes on bunds. ฀ Conservation of soil and rain water: Water harvesting by digging farm ponds and maintain contour bunds in sloppy land, adopt contour row cultivation and maintain low height plantation on bunds. ฀ Combination of animals: Animals are important components of organic farming not only they provide animal produce but also provide enough dung and urine for use as organic source of nutrients. ฀ Maintain diversity: Maintain diversity at farm and develop habitat for substences and create enough 61 | Climate and Environmental changes: Impact,Challenges and Solutions diversity. ฀ Use of renewable energy: Use of eco-friendly energy sources such as solar energy, bio-gas and others. ROLE OF INDIAN GOVERNMENT IN DEVELOPMENT AND PROMOTION OF ORGANIC FARMING IN INDIA: ฀ National progamme on organic production (NPOP) started in 2000 ฀ Organic logo launched in 2002 ฀ National center of organic farming started in year 2004 at Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh ฀ As part of 10th Five-year Plan, Government of India has earmarked about Rs. 100 crores for the promotion of organic agriculture in the country. ฀ Sikkim declared as organic state on 18th January 2016. Organic agriculture also reported to be climate change resilience farming systems as it promotes the proper management of soil, water, biodiversity and local knowledge there by acting as a good option for adaptation to climate change. But, due to lack of proper research, the contribution of organic agriculture for climate change adaptation and mitigation is yet to be known. It is argued that organic agriculture positively contributes to ofset negative impacts of climate change (Khanal, 2009) ORGANIC FARMING IN MITIGATION CLIMATE CHANGE Use of on Farm nutrient sources Organic farming realizes on farm nutrient sources. he use of external inputs is limited in organic farming systems. Synthetic chemicals like fertilizers, pesticides and plant growth promoters are banned in organic farming. Williams et al. (2006) calculated the total primary energy burden of conventional wheat production in the UK to be allocated by 56% to mineral fertilizers and by 11% to pesticides. Pimentel (2006) calculated similar results for corn in USA, 30–40% for fertilization and 9–11% for plant protection for wheat and corn. hese emissions are avoided by organic agriculture. However, where labor is not available and conditions allow it, organic management 62 | Climate and Environmental changes: Impact,Challenges and Solutions might require more fossil fuel energy for machinery due to the use of mechanical weed control. A comparison of seven organic and conventional crops carried out in the UK showed a higher energy demand for machinery for all organic products. However, the higher energy demand for machinery did not outweigh the energy savings from foregoing synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. he total energy use per product unit was lower for organic systems in all cases except for carrots, where a high-energy demand for lame weeding was assumed. On average, the total energy demand for organic products was 15% lower (Anonymous, 2000). Reduced use of synthetic fertilizers is believed to result lower yield per unit area. Numerous reports have emphasized the need for major changes in the global food system: agriculture must meet the twin challenge of feeding a growing population, with rising demand for meat and high-calorie diets, while simultaneously minimizing its global environmental impacts. Here we use a comprehensive meta-analysis to examine the relative yield performance of organic and conventional farming systems globally. Our analysis of available data shows that, overall, organic yields are typically lower than conventional yields. But these yield diferences are highly contextual, depending on system and site characteristics, and range from 5% lower organic yields (rain-fed legumes and perennials on weak-acidic to weak-alkaline soils), 13% lower yields (when best organic practices are used), to 34% lower yields (when the conventional and organic systems are most comparable). Under certain conditions—that is, with good management practices, particular crop types and growing conditions—organic systems can thus nearly match conventional yields, whereas under others it at present cannot. To establish organic agriculture as an important tool in sustainable food production, the factors limiting organic yields need to be more fully understood, alongside assessments of the many social, environmental and economic beneits of organic farming systems (Verena et. al., 2012). No one source of nutrient usually suices to maintain soil organic matter at a desired level as it depends upon availability, market prices and alternative uses. All organic inputs used to supplement nutrients do not uniformly supply the nutrients. he aim of nutrient 63 | Climate and Environmental changes: Impact,Challenges and Solutions management in organic systems is to optimize the use of on–farm resources and minimize losses. On farm sources of organic nutrient management are crop rotation, intercropping, farm yard manure, compost, vermicompost, biogas slurry, crop residue management, green manuring and of farm sources of organic manures also beneicial in organic farming system. CROP DIVERSIFICATION By non-participation from synthetic input use, organic agricultural systems cannot but adapt to local environmental conditions. herefore, species and varieties are chosen for their adaptability to the local soil and climate and their resistance to local pests and diseases. Organic farmers prefer not to use uniform crops and breeds and opt for more robust traditional species, which they tend to conserve and develop. Additionally, growing diferent assemblages of crops in time and space seeks to enhance the agroecosystem resilience to external shocks such as extreme weather events or price variation (Smith and Lenhart, 1996), which are all risks most likely to increase as the climate changes. Diverse cropping systems in developing countries do not only rely on cash crops but also on food crops for household consumption. Currently, most small-scale farmers are net buyers of food and, thus, highly vulnerable to volatile food prices (FAO, 2008). An independence from uniform commercial seeds and imported food increases self-reliance and promotes food sovereignty. he diversiication of cropping systems also make more eicient use of available nutrients, with improved productivity and economic performance, which is of high importance in times of limited nutrients and inancial constraints (Zhang and Li, 2003). Agriculture today places great strains on biodiversity, soils, water and the atmosphere, and these strains will be exacerbated if current trends in population growth, meat and energy consumption, and food waste continue. hus, farming systems that are both highly productive and minimize environmental harms are critically needed. How organic agriculture may contribute to world food production has been subject to vigorous debate over the past decade. Two agricultural diversiication practices, multi-cropping and crop rotations, substantially reduce 64 | Climate and Environmental changes: Impact,Challenges and Solutions the yield gap to 9+4% and 8+5%, respectively (Lauren et. al., 2015). Intercropping of leguminous crops also increase the soil nitrogen status (Singh et al., 2004). Incorporation of Sesbania aculeata residue added nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and micronutrient in the soil. Green manuring Sesbania aculeate ixed more nitrogen biologically and its residue incorporated in the soil also added higher amount of organic matter, which is a good indicator of soil fertility and improve nutrient status in the soil (Singh and Shivay, 2016) Avoiding Burning of Crop residues he IPCC estimates that on a global level agriculture’s share of total anthropogenic emissions amounts to about 50 percent of methane, about 70 percent of nitrous oxide, and about 20 percent of carbon dioxide. Sources of methane emissions from U.S. agriculture include rice, and cattle production. Nitrous oxide emissions depend on manure, tillage, and fertilizer practices. Carbon dioxide emissions stem from burning fossil fuels, tillage, deforestation, biomass burning, and land degradation. CH4 and N2O from biomass burning account for 12% of the agricultural GHG emissions. Additionally, the carbon sequestered in the burned biomass is lost to the atmosphere. In organic agriculture, preparation of land by burning vegetation is restricted to a minimum (IFOAM, 2002). Livestock International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM), principle of a harmonious balance between crop production and animal husbandry. A nutrient excess on the farm does not only lead to a high N2O emission risk but also to an ineicient use of the world’s limited resources. Where manure has to be transported over great distance for application, high energy costs occur. On pastures, limited livestock density avoids overgrazing. Overgrazing is a risk factor for land degradation and leads to high soil carbon losses. he limitation of livestock units per hectare and the lower production intensity are incentives for multi-use livestock systems. Case study calculations showed that the methane emissions from milk and beef production can be reduced more than 20% by keeping double-use 65 | Climate and Environmental changes: Impact,Challenges and Solutions breeds (i.e., for milk and meat production). Double-use breeds are normally not kept in conventional systems because of their lower milk yields, but in roughage-based organic systems, double-use breeds do not imply further yield losses and hence are more likely to be used. MANAGEMENT OF ORGANIC CROP LAND he most important measure to reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses in organic farming is completely avoidance the uses of synthetic fertilizers and chemical pesticides. Diverse crop rotations including catch and cover crops and intercropping of legumes are the major tools. Nitrous oxide N2O are the most important greenhouse gas in agriculture emission. It contributes 38 percent of greenhouse gas (Smith and Lenhart, 1996). Organic agriculture, in contrast, is self-suicient in nitrogen. Mixed organic farms practice highly eicient recycling of manures from livestock and of crop residues by composting. Leguminous crops deliver additional nitrogen in suicient quantities (on stockless organic farms this is the main source). Badgley et al. (2007) calculated the potential nitrogen production by leguminous plants via intercropping and of-season cropping to be 154 million tonnes, a potential which exceeds the nitrogen production from fossil fuel by far and which is not fully exploited by conventional farming techniques. Emissions of nitrous oxide are directly linked to the concentration of easily available mineral nitrogen in soils. High emission rates are detected directly ater fertilization and are highly variable. Denitriication is additionally enhanced in compacted soils. According to IPCC, 1.6% of nitrogen fertilizer applied is emitted as nitrous oxide. In organic agriculture, the ban of mineral nitrogen and the reduced livestock units per hectare considerably reduce the concentration of easily available mineral nitrogen in soils and thus N2O emissions. Furthermore, these factors add to lower emissions of nitrous oxide: • Diversiied crop rotations with green manure improve soil 66 | Climate and Environmental changes: Impact,Challenges and Solutions structure and diminish emissions of nitrous oxide. • Soils managed organically are more aerated and have signiicantly lower mobile nitrogen concentrations. Both factors reduce emissions of nitrous oxides. he on-farm use of farmyard manure – a practice increasingly abandoned in conventional production – needs to be reconsidered in the light of climate change. While conventional stockless arable farms use synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, manure and slurry from dairy, beef, or from non-ruminant farms have become an environmental problem. In these livestock operations, nutrients are available in excess and overfertilization occurs. Emissions of CO2, nitrous oxide and methane are likely to be very high and water pollution may occur when manure is treated as waste and not as recycled as a valuable fertilizer in the crops. Integration of livestock and arable production, the rule on organic farms, can thus reduce the global warming potential of food production. his fact is not calculated correctly in most global warming potential models, however, as livestock production is generally considered separately from crop systems. Methane Methane accounts for about 14% of the greenhouse gas emissions (Barker et al., 2007). Two thirds of this are of anthropogenic origin and mainly from agriculture. Methane emissions stem to a large extent from enteric fermentation and manure management and in consequence are directly proportional to livestock numbers. Avoidance of methane emissions of anthropogenic origin and especially of agricultural origin is of particular importance for mitigation. Organic agriculture has an important, though not always superior, impact on reduction as livestock numbers are limited in organic farms (Weiske et al., 2006; Olesen et al., 2006; Kotschi & Müller-Sämann, 2004). he data available on methane emissions from livestock is limited, especially with respect to the reduction of GHG emissions from ruminants and manure heaps. Some authors suggest high energy feedstuf to reduce methane emissions from ruminants (Beauchemin and McGinn, 2005), but the ruminants’ unique ability to digest roughage from pastures would then not be used. Furthermore, 67 | Climate and Environmental changes: Impact,Challenges and Solutions meat and milk would be produced with arable crops (concentrates) where mineral nitrogen is an important CO2 emitter, and competition to human nutrition might become a problem. High milk yields per cow reduce emissions per product unit. In organic systems, ruminants are kept making productive use of fodder legumes, which play an important role as nitrogen source in organic crop rotations. Also, many grasslands are not suitable for cropping due to topography, climate and soils, and the best productive use of these lands is to keep ruminants on them. High livestock performance is generally achieved by feeding high-energy crops, which neglects the unique ability of ruminants to digest roughage. Using crops for feed rather than food poses substantial challenges to food security; currently, one-third of the world’s cropland is used to produce animal feed36, let alone all the inherent environmental problems that intensive cropping systems pose in terms of high N fertilizer use, soil degradation and further land clearing. Furthermore, high energy concentration in animal diets, if not managed very carefully, can lead to rumen acidiication and secondary inlammations, which is a cause of animal illness (FAOSTAT, 2009). Methane emissions from organic rice production and ruminant production do not difer substantially from those of conventional production. Better rice production practices in organic and conventional agriculture, such as avoiding continuous looding or choosing low methane emitting varieties (Smith and Conen, 2004) could enhance reduction of methane emissions. he multitarget approach of organic farmers and the fact that they are oten more highly skilled could enhance implementation of improved production techniques. he main inluencing factors are cultivars, organic amendments and drainage (Neue et al., 1996). While organic amendments increase emissions, drainage reduces emissions. Organic systems add more organic amendments but adding amendments in times of drainage could avoid higher emissions (Xu et. al., 2000). As organic systems do not use herbicides, aquatic weeds tend to be present in organic rice paddies—and weeds have an additional decreasing efect on methane emissions. 68 | Climate and Environmental changes: Impact,Challenges and Solutions CARBON SEQUESTRATION Organic farming sequesters CO2 in the soil Organic Agriculture has a sequestration potential as it follows the key principle of tight nutrient and energy cycles through organic matter management in soils. A second mitigation efect of cash and cover crops, intercropping and manure is an increased carbon sequestration in the soil. his is achieved through improved practices in cropland management and in agroforestry. Various long-term trials provide evidence that the regular addition of organic materials to the soil is the only way to maintain or even increase soil organic carbon (SOC). he systematic development and application of organic fertilization technologies has been the domain of Organic Agriculture for many decades and outstanding results have been achieved so far. Key issues of technology development have been: ฀ To enhance the quantity and application of organic manure. A close integration of crop production and animal husbandry and the systematic recycling of organic waste are basic elements. ฀ To improve organic waste processing techniques to obtain high quality manure. hrough composting of animal and plant residues losses in the humiication process are minimized and a higher proportion of the solid humus fraction is achieved. Long and diversiied crop rotations and legume cropping are further characteristics of Organic Agriculture that help to increase SOC. In conventional agriculture, conservation tillage is largely promoted as a measure to sequester carbon dioxide. his technology combines minimum tillage with organic covers, herbicides and oten herbicide resistant GMO crops. Both of the last two are prohibited in Organic Agriculture. Latest research results revealed that gains in soil organic carbon have been overestimated and are partly or completely ofset by increased N2O emissions. hus, it can be concluded that minimum tillage combined with mineral fertilizer application compares less well with Organic Agriculture if the focus is on GHGs in general rather than considering carbon sequestration alone. he 69 | Climate and Environmental changes: Impact,Challenges and Solutions task of Organic Agriculture will be to integrate conservation tillage in a way that negative efects are avoided. Agroforesty – a management system that integrates trees in the agricultural landscape – is another technology that is systematically applied in Organic Agriculture. It is a feasible method to succeed shiting cultivation systems but also to improve and add value to low productive cropland. Agroforestry holds the biggest potential of agricultural carbon sequestration in tropical countries. It is worth noting that the sequestration of carbon, i.e., an increase of soil organic matter is also leading to more fertile soils, better water retention capacity and reduced nutrient leakage. In the long term, the removal of GHGs from the atmosphere through soil carbon sequestration is limited. he level of soil organic matter does not increase indeinitely in any soil, but reaches certain equilibrium, depending on the soil and climatic conditions and management practices (Jonston et. al., 2009). hus, carbon sequestration in soils is not suicient to achieve a climate neutral agriculture in the long run, but in the medium term, it can compensate inevitable agricultural emissions until more neutral production practices are developed and widely used. Most of the soil-sequestered carbon is stored as soil organic matter. In diferent long-term ield trials, organic matter content in organically managed soils was higher (Marriott, 2006). Soil organic matter has positive efects on the water-capturing capacity of the soil. A higher water capturing capacity strengthens the resilience to droughts and reduces the risk of loods (Lotter, 2003), which are both more likely to increase with climate change. he need for irrigation is lowered, which has an additional adaptation and mitigation efect. Furthermore, soil organic matter enhances the nutrient bufer capacity and the microbial activity, both strengthening soil fertility. As a conclusion, Organic Agriculture could contribute signiicantly to reduce GHG releases and to sequester carbon in soils and biomass. Secondly, there is suicient evidence that Organic Agriculture is superior to conventional agriculture. his is even more important as the capacity of Organic Agriculture to contribute to the mitigation of climate change can be considered as an ancillary beneit to its primary goal of sustainable land use. his primary goal is achieved 70 | Climate and Environmental changes: Impact,Challenges and Solutions by gains in soil productivity, consecutive food security, biodiversity conservation and many other beneits. he total abstention from synthetic inputs in organic agriculture has been a strong incentive to develop agricultural management practices that optimize the natural production potential of speciic agro-ecosystems, based on traditional knowledge and modern research. hese strategies can be used to enhance agricultural communities that have no access to purchased inputs, which is the case of the majority of the rural poor. he main organic strategies are diversiication and an increase of soil organic matter, which both could enhance resilience against extreme weather events and are recommended by the IPCC. hese strategies have, in particular, a high potential to enhance the productivity of degraded soils, especially in marginal areas, while enhancing soil carbon sequestration. he adaptive approach inherent to organic agriculture ofers simultaneous climate mitigation beneits. 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