Is organic dairy farming more sustainable?

The sustainability of any farming system should be judged according to its impact on 4 key inter-dependant factors: economic, environmental, social and innovation. Since these factors can be influenced by various elements including the size of the dairy farm, its location and technology systems in place, it makes little sense to compare organic and conventional farming.

For example, sustainability for one farmer or farm at one point in time may not be sustainable for another farmer or farm at another point in time. In addition, the economic sustainability of a particular farming system is driven by price and costs of production. In general organic systems have higher costs, so if it becomes more widespread there is a requirement for the premium associated with organic to be available for a larger volume of milk. Therefore, despite some advantages of organic farming, as a category, it cannot be deemed as more sustainable than conventional farming.