This review paper by Muller A., published by the Environment for Development Initiative in April 2009 (funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) concludes that organic agriculture, as an adaptation strategy to climate change and variability, is a concrete and promising option for rural communities and has additional potential as a mitigation strategy.

Guzmán G I, Alonso A M (2008). A comparison of energy use in conventional and organic olive oil production in Spain, in Agricultural Systems Volume 98, Issue 3 The current situation of worldwide concern over the emission of greenhouse gases and their effect on the climate demands an evaluation, from the perspective of energy efficiency and more specifically of non-renewable energy sources, of tendencies for change in the management of agricultural systems which have arisen in recent years.

Wood R, Lenzen M, Dey C and Lundie S (2006). A comparative study of some environmental impacts of conventional and organic farming in Australia, Agricultural Systems 89 324–348 is an Australian input-output analysis which concludes in favour of organic across a range of indicators (including GHGs).

This report, published in 2009, was commissioned by Defra and produced by researchers at the University of Exeter Centre for Rural Policy research. The purpose of this study was to take a fresh look at the nature of organic production, consumption and marketing in England and Wales in order to better assess its current and likely contribution to rural development and its ability to meet consumer expectations. Based on a mixed methodological approach the study consulted with 2,300 individuals to reveal a complex and multi-dimensional sector with a highly committed consumer base.

This report, published in March 2009 by the Australian government proposes that organic soil carbon can be divided into at least three ‘pools’ according to how fast it breaks down and is replaced. The pools are commonly divided into: fast (e.g. annual), slow (e.g. decadal) and passive (e.g. millennial). For carbon sequestration (long-term storage) and carbon trading purposes, it is especially desirable to increase the total amount of carbon in the pools that break down slowly (e.g. the slow and passive pools).

Koerber G R, Edwards-Jones G, Hill P W, Milà i Canals L, Nyeko P, York E H, Jones D L. (2009). Geographical variation in carbon dioxide fluxes from soils in agro-ecosystems and its implications for life-cycle assessment, Journal of Applied Ecology, 46, 306–314.

The European Commission has published a report on the relationship between soil and climate change (CLIMSOIL) which underlines the crucial role that soils can play in mitigating climate change.