Integrated Soil and Crop Management in Organic Agriculture: A Logical Framework to Ensure Food Quality and Human Health?

Agronomy

Per Ole Iversen¹  Hassan Habib Hassan Ashra Kalee²  Chris J. Seal³  Anthony Watson³  Recep Korkut⁴  Jeremy J. Beckman⁴  Juan Wang⁴  Shreiya S. Kumar⁴  Chi Leong Kong⁴  Luxi Xu⁴  Nina Röhrig⁴  Mehmet Gür⁴  Olatunde B. Oduwole⁴  Carlo Leifert⁴  Julius O. Olumeh⁴  Jem D. Greenway⁴  Julia Masselos⁴  Leticija Petrovic⁴  Tianer Feng⁴  Amelia Magistrali⁴  Leonidas Rempelos⁴  Charlotte J. Brockbank⁴  Hannah Davis⁴  Enas Sufar⁴  Nikos Volakakis⁴  Sarah A. Wyld⁴  Eric Iyaremye⁴  Timothy N. Adams⁴  Jonas Kwedibana⁴  Kolawole Adebusuyi⁴  Bradley S. Douglas⁴  Ayobami Karimot Oladipo⁴  Dominika Średnicka-Tober⁴  Benedicto N. Mutalemwa⁴  Eleni Chatzidimitriou⁴  Gultakin Hasanaliyeva⁴  Marcin Baranski⁴  Baring S. Nkambule⁴  Peter Kindersley⁵  Adam Willson⁶  Pip Davenport⁶  Manisha Thapa⁶  Yaqiong Pan⁷  Mark Goltz⁸ 

[1] Department of Nutrition, IMB, University of Oslo, 0372 Oslo, Norway;Field Crops Department, College of Agriculture, Kirkuk University, Kirkuk 52001, Iraq;Human Nutrition Research Centre, Public Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK;Nafferton Ecological Farming Group, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK;Peter Kindersley plc, 39 Cardigan Street, London SE11 5PF, UK;SCU Plant Science, Southern Cross University, Military Rd., Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia;Shanghai Luming Network Technology Co., Ltd., Gumei Road, Shanghai 200030, China;TAFE-NSW, Wollongbar, NSW 2477, Australia;

关键词: organic farming;    conventional farming;    food composition;    human health;    food security;    phenolics;   

DOI  :  10.3390/agronomy11122494

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The environmental and biodiversity benefits of organic farming are widely recognized, but there is still controversy about the effects of organic production methods on the nutritional composition of food and human health. In the first part of this article therefore, we critically review the evidence that organic farming methods improve the nutritional quality of food crops. Moreover, we summarize our current understanding of how quality gains are linked to the implementation of the “innovations” introduced into conventional crop production during the intensification or “green revolution” of agriculture over the last 100 years. In the second part of the article, we critically review the evidence for the range of health benefits related to organic food consumption. Specifically, we describe and discuss the results from: (i) dietary intervention studies which have found that organic food consumption substantially reduces pesticide exposure in humans and affects feed intake, growth, hormone balances and immune system responsiveness in animal models; (ii) human cohort/epidemiological studies which have reported significant positive associations between organic food consumption and the lower incidence of a range of diseases including obesity, metabolic syndrome, cancer, hypospadias, pre-eclampsia, eczema and middle ear infections in infants; (iii) interactions and trade-offs between diet (e.g., whole-grain, fruit and vegetables and reduced red-meat consumption) and food types (organic versus conventional) concerning public health and future food security. The article also identifies knowledge gaps and highlights the need for (i) long-term, factorial field experiments to understand the relative effects of agronomic and pedoclimatic drivers on crop quality and safety, and (ii) clinical trials and additional human cohort studies to confirm the positive health outcomes linked to organic food consumption. The main conclusions from our review are that there is growing evidence that (i) agricultural intensification has resulted in a reduction in the nutritional quality of food and the sustainability of food production, and (ii) organic farming practices not only improve food quality and human health, but also food security. This is particularly true where current nutritional guidelines (increasing whole-grain, fruit and vegetable products, while reducing red-meat consumption) are implemented.

【 授权许可】

Unknown