Organic Agriculture …….ppt

Questions Questions on Profitability of Organic Production? Organic Transition Economics Step 1: develop a transition production plan… Example – You inherited a 240-acre farm. It is currently in a corn-soybean rotation. You want to transition into organics. You decide to transition field-by-field. Field Plan For simplicity, Assume you can divide the 240 acres into 4, 60-acre fields. And you will be producing conventional and transitioning crops on the same farm. Field Plan Organic Agriculture …… How Viable / Still Viable? Craig Chase, Field Specialist Farm Ag Business Management Session Agenda Economics of organic agriculture. Neely-Kinyon long-term rotation study. Organic budgets. 2008 updates. Economics of transitioning. Neely-Kinyon Organic Study The Neely-Kinyon Research Farm is located in SW Iowa (Greenfield) Focus on comparing Three Production Systems Conventional corn-soybean rotation Organic corn-soybean-oat/alfalfa Organic corn-soybean-oat/alfalfa-alfalfa Organic cropping systems were established in 1998; certified organic in 2000. Yields, by Crop and Rotation,2000-2004 Estimated Fieldwork, by Rotation, 2000-2004 Production Costs by Crop Rotation, 2000-2004 Returns to Land Management, by Crop and Rotation, 2000-2004 Iowa average prices used per year; minimum price was the loan rate. Yes, but… That’s a research farm and doesn’t reflect my farm. Besides the conventional C-Sb isn’t really conventional. Response: Developed the Iowa Organic Budgets (Fm-1876) to represent state costs and returns. Revised Iowa Crop Production Budgets (Fm-1712) to use as a comparison. Yields by Crop and Rotation  Estimated Rotation Fieldwork Production Costs by Crop Rotation Returns to Land Management Prices: $2.15,$6.00; $4.50, $13.60, $2.30, $90 Yes, but … With the ethanol boom and higher corn and soybean prices, organic production no longer has an economic advantage to conventional agriculture. Besides conventional corn has higher yields than th