Organic and conventional crop production in the corn belt: a comparison of economic performance and energy use for selected farms

Abstract

A two year study is described of fourteen pairs of crop-livestock farms in the Corn Belt, in which one member of each pair used only organic fertilization methods and no pesticides, while the other used conventional fertilizers and pesticides. Data are presented on the yields, production costs, and energy consumption for crop production in 1974 and 1975. The organic group had an overall production level an average of 10% below that of the conventional group in terms of market value of output per acre of cropland. Their operating costs were also lower, so that returns to crop production were equal for the two groups. The conventional group was 2.3 times more energy intensive, primarily because of the energy needed to produce conventional fertilizers. The organic group required 12% more labor per unit of market value of crops produced. Whereas the input and removal of P and K were in balance on the conventionally managed cropland, the organic farmers were drawing somewhat on pre-existing reservoirs of these nutrients. (auth)