Agriculture and food systems rely on a variety of energy sources, including renewable and non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels as well as human and animal labour. Energy is used not only in planting, cultivating, and harvesting of crops and animal products, but also in the manufacture and transport of inputs such as pesticides, fertilisers, and machinery and in processing, packaging, and distribution of final products. This paper focuses on nonrenewable sources of energy such as fossil fuels and others (such as electricity and natural gas) at all points of the production, processing, packaging, storage, and distribution stages of agricultural and food products and inputs.

Through examples and by synthesizing research, this paper analyses the environmental efficiency of energy use in organic and non-organic agricultural systems and food chains, with implications on the natural and socio-economic environment, including human energy use (labour) of organic production methods as compared to non-organic production. Criteria for comparing organic and non-organic agricultural systems are explored, as are options for labelling agricultural products to reflect the energy consumption of their production.