New research shows organic farming can help curb nitrogen pollution

An important new research from the University of Virginia in collaboration with The Organic Center shows that organic farming can help reduce nitrogen pollution on a global scale.

The study, led by professor James Galloway and a team at the University of Virginia, found that organic farming helps prevent nitrogen pollution by recycling or reusing three times more reactive nitrogen than conventional farming. Galloway studies the positive and negative effects of reactive nitrogen on the atmosphere, land-based ecosystems, and freshwater and oceanic ecosystems.

The study also found that almost all the nitrogen used to produce the food in a conventional diet—93 percent—was newly created reactive nitrogen. In comparison, for an average diet of organic foods, only 33 percent of the nitrogen used to produce the food was new reactive nitrogen. The rest of the nitrogen used for plant growth in organic production was already in existence and was being recycled.