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Organically farmed
corn and soybean crops were only minimally reduced as compared
to conventionally farmed crops. Moreover, after factoring
in production costs, the two farming methods yielded equal
net returns, according to a study.
Over 80 percent
of U.S. corn and soybean crops are grown in the Midwest. The
majority of crops, which take up over 100 million acres, are
produced using a conventional corn-soybean rotation practice,
which includes annual synthetic fertilizer and pesticide applications.
Organic production
practices follow guidelines defined by the United States Department
of Agriculture’s National Organic Program (NOP) and offer
an alternative to conventional farming methods.
In the study, which
was conducted from 1989 to 1999 in two locations, researchers
evaluated a two-year corn-soybean rotation and a four-year
corn-soybean-oat/alfalfa-alfalfa rotation using conventional
and organic production strategies.
Corn grown from
1993 through 1999 using the organic four-year rotation yielded
nine percent and seven percent less (at the two locations)
than corn grown using the conventional two-year rotation.
Organically produced
soybeans grown during the same time period yielded 19 percent
and 16 percent less at each respective location than the conventional
two-year rotation soybeans.
According to researchers,
weed control played a major role in the larger reduction yields
from organically produced soybeans as compared to corn. The
soybean crop had increased weed pressure because of its placement
in the rotation sequence.
Although the four-year
organic method showed a reduction in both corn and soybean
yields compared with the two-year conventional method, the
organic method had lower production costs. Therefore, net
returns for both methods were equivalent, according to the
study.
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