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

Technical Report · Tue Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1976

OSTI ID:7359363

Lockeretz, W; Klepper, R; Commoner, B; Gertler, M; Fast, S; O'Leary, D

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)

• Research Organization: Washington Univ., St. Louis, Mo. (USA). Center for the Biology of Natural Systems; Washington University, Center for the Biology of Natural Systems, St. Louis, MO
• OSTI ID: 7359363
• Report Number(s): NSF/RA/N-76-084; CBNS-AE-7
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
298000* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Consumption & Utilization
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320300 -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Industrial & Agricultural Processes
AGRICULTURE
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COST
CROPS
CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES
ECONOMICS
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
FERTILIZERS
MANPOWER
PESTICIDES
PRODUCTION
PRODUCTIVITY