Swiss trial shows organic farming is 85% as productive as conventional agriculture

This is shown by the results of a globally unique open-air trial that has been running for 47 years in Therwil in the Swiss canton of Basel-City. In the so-called DOK trial, the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) and the federal agricultural research centre Agroscope have been comparing organic and conventional farming methods. In a press release issued on Wednesday, the institutions described the trial as the "Methuselah of field trials". +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox The trials showed that, on average, organic farms achieve around 85% of the yields of conventional systems. However, they only use around 65% of the nitrogen fertilisers and around 8% of the pesticides. The differences in yield are strongly dependent on the respective crop: while the yields of soy are the same when grown organically instead of conventionally, there are greater losses in organic farming for crops such as wheat and potatoes. In addition, the lower use of ...