Evidence on Holistic Benefits of Organic and Natural Farming_Amit Khurana_Session 1_final

• Despite high cost of cultivation in 51 cropping systems (81 percent) (largely due to purchase of on-farm organic inputs for experimental farms), net returns are highest in 63 per cent of these cropping systems • The five-year mean net returns with organic approach are higher than inorganic in 67 per cent cropping systems. [...] It is lowest in 34 per cent cropping systems with integrated approach at four centres and it is lowest in 14 per cent with inorganic approach at two centres. [...] Sustainability (soil and environment): summary based on AI-NPOF results Collectively, values of all four micronutrients with organic approach are higher than inorganic approach in 16 cropping systems (76 per cent) at five centres (three ecosystems) Range of Soil health % of cropping % of cropping systems parameters* % of cropping systems systems showing showing significantly higher difference in (. [...] of showing highest mean higher mean values (>20 per cent) mean values mean with cropping values with each of the with organic or with organic or integrated inorganic systems) three approaches integrated approaches approach over inorganic (% approach over inorganic of overall higher) (INO=IOF+SR) (in %) Iron (19) ORG: 74; INT: 21; INO: 5 ORG: 90; INT: 100 ORG: 65; INT: 53 ORG: -20.3 – 86.6 INT: 0.0. [...] Organic and natural farming approaches are not only profitable and sustainable but also productive • It is also evident that organic approach has fared better than integrated approach on profitability and sustainability and is at par with it in the case of productivity • It is also clear that the strength of this consolidated evidence is high.