Photo Credit: David Baron

A team of European researchers has released a study examining the environmental benefits of organic dairy production. The researchers compared organic to conventional dairy farms to measure several environmental variables. They found that organic dairy farm management resulted in greenhouse gas emissions reductions of 6,188 kg of CO2 per hectare when compared to conventional management. Organic farms also reduced nitrogen balance by 82 kg of N per hectare in comparison with conventional farms. In addition, organic farms had higher proportions of grasslands in their agricultural areas and smaller proportions of corn.  While organic dairies had lower yields than conventional dairies, they had similar incomes due to the higher price of organic milk.