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P A N U P S
Pesticide Action Network Updates Service
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Organic Crops Competitive with Conventional Systems
August 9, 1999
Farm profits from organic cropping systems can equal or exceed profits
from conventional rotations in the Midwestern United States, according
to a new study by the Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative
Agriculture. The report, The Economics of Organic Grain and Soybean
Production in the Midwestern United States, reviews past and current
research on conditions that make growing organic crops profitable, as
well as studies that compare organic grain and soybean production with
conventional production.
There has been dramatic growth in the U.S. and worldwide in the
production of and demand for organically produced food and fiber. At
the same time, consumers around the world have been willing to pay
premium prices for organic products. For example, farm prices for
organic corn were on average 35% higher than U.S. cash prices for
conventionally grown corn in 1995, 44% higher in 1996 and 73%
higher in 1997. Prices for organic, cleaned Clear Hilum soybeans (the
type used by the Japanese for tofu) were more than twice the U.S. cash
price for conventionally grown soybeans in 1995 and 1997, and almost
twice those levels in 1996.
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