Shades of green

It ain't easy being green. Especially when being green isn't green at all.
Conducting a study for the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, researchers at the Manchester Business School in England said the environmental benefits of organic food are "not clear cut."
Here is the link to the lengthy PDF file, Environmental Impacts of Food Production and Consumption report.

TK: The 199 page report is fill of acronyms, including BREFs, CERA, EIPRO and a half a dozen others. Here are few points from the executive summary:

There is certainly insufficient evidence available to state that organic agriculture overall would have less of an environmental impact than conventional agriculture.

Organic agriculture poses its own environmental problems in the production of some foods, either in terms of nutrient release to water or in terms of climate change burdens.

Evidence for a lower environmental impact of local preference in food supply and consumption overall is weak.

TK: The study says fruits and vegetables account for about 2% of the EU's total global warming potential: Don't ask me how they came up with that stat. Overall this study is fascinating but exceedingly complex and maddeningly inconclusive.