Agricultural practices need to change to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. How to achieve the SDGs is heavily contested. Here we propose a policy framework that triggers the required transition. Organic agriculture, although not a silver bullet, is a useful component in such strategy.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Relevant articles
Open Access articles citing this article.
-
Organic farming significantly improves microbial community structure, network complexity, and functional diversity in the Gannan navel orange orchard
BMC Microbiology Open Access 29 August 2025
-
Leveraging internet use for sustainable agriculture: the impact of digital training on adoption of energy-smart agricultural practices and welfare
Scientific Reports Open Access 22 August 2025
-
To be climate-friendly, food-based dietary guidelines must include limits on total meat consumption – modeling from the case of France
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity Open Access 09 July 2025
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$32.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$119.00 per year
only $9.92 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References
Willett, W. et al. Lancet. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31788-4 (2019).
Reganold, J. P. & Wachter, J. M. Nat. Plants 2, 15221 (2016).
Seufert, V. & Ramankutty, N. Sci. Adv. 3, e1602638 (2017).
Meemken, E.-M. & Qaim, M. Annu. Rev. Resour. Econ. 10, 39–63 (2018).
Searchinger, T. D. et al. Nature 564, 249–253 (2018).
Campbell, B. M. et al. Ecol. Soc. 22, 8 (2017).
Loos, J. et al. Front. Ecol. Environ. 12, 356–361 (2014).
From Uniformity to Diversity: A Paradigm Shift from Industrial Agriculture to Diversified Agroecological Systems (International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems, 2016).
Pretty, J. et al. Nat. Sustain. 1, 441–446 (2018).
Sanders, J., Stolze, M. & Padel, S. Use and Efficiency of Public Support Measures Addressing Organic Farming (Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut, 2011).
Sukhdev, P. Nature 558, 7 (2018).
Sandhu, H. S., Wratten, S. D., Cullen, R. & Case, B. Ecol. Econ. 64, 835–848 (2008).
FAO’s Work on Agroecology: A Pathway to Achieving the SDGs (FAO, 2018).
Arbenz, M., Gould, D. & Stopes, C. Org. Agr. 7, 199–207 (2017).
Desta, M. G. & McMaohn, J. A. J. World Trade 49, 699–734 (2015).
Foley, J. A. et al. Nature 478, 337–342 (2011).
Muller, A. et al. Nat. Commun. 8, 13931 (2017).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
Frank Eyhorn serves as Vice-President of IFOAM — Organics International. The authors do not have any competing interests regarding the content of this article.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Eyhorn, F., Muller, A., Reganold, J.P. et al. Sustainability in global agriculture driven by organic farming. Nat Sustain 2, 253–255 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0266-6
Published:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0266-6
This article is cited by
-
To be climate-friendly, food-based dietary guidelines must include limits on total meat consumption – modeling from the case of France
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (2025)
-
Organic farming significantly improves microbial community structure, network complexity, and functional diversity in the Gannan navel orange orchard
BMC Microbiology (2025)
-
Leveraging internet use for sustainable agriculture: the impact of digital training on adoption of energy-smart agricultural practices and welfare
Scientific Reports (2025)
-
Addressing landscape multifunctionality in conservation and restoration
Nature Reviews Biodiversity (2025)
-
A holistic evaluation of wheat producers in the Eastern Mediterranean Region of Türkiye using technical efficiency and sustainability metrics
Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy (2025)