Spatial disparity and environmental issues of organic agriculture
Laen...
Kuupäev
2023
Kättesaadav alates
Autorid
Ušča, M.
Ieviņa, L.
Lakovskis, P.
Ajakirja pealkiri
Ajakirja ISSN
Köite pealkiri
Kirjastaja
Estonian University of Life Sciences
Abstrakt
Food systems are major drivers of such global environmental problems as a decrease
in biodiversity, degradation and fragmentation of habitats, use of fertilizers and pesticides, and
water pollution. To deal with the environmental issues caused by agriculture at the European
level, agri-environmental measures, including organic agriculture, through Common Agricultural
Policy (CAP) are introduced to alleviate the detrimental impacts of agriculture. As it is still not clear
whether agri-environmental measures, including organic agriculture, contribute unambiguously to
the goals set by the CAP and the impact of organic agriculture on water quality is of high
uncertainty, this study aims to analyse the spatial disparity of organic land and its impact on the
environment by probing into the connection between the location of organic lands and water
quality. The paper is based on a study of spatial analyses of organically managed land, its structure,
and its relation to water bodies with a significant load of dispersed pollution from agriculture as
well as the statistical analysis of the relationship between organic agriculture and water quality.
The research was carried out in Latvia and done on a national level. This paper highlights the
necessity for a more goal-oriented approach to the implementation of specific CAP measures as
well as gives a deeper understanding of a specific CAP measure - organic agriculture. The
statistical analysis of the data confirms that the management of arable land with organic farming
methods has the potential to contribute to improving and preserving surface water quality.
Kirjeldus
Received: April 9th, 2023 ; Accepted: August 10th, 2023 ; Published: August 30th, 2023 ; Correspondence: maija.usca@arei.lv
Märksõnad
organic agriculture, spatial disparity, environment, water pollution, Latvia, Eastern Europe, common agricultural policy (CAP), articles