Showing papers on "Organic farming published in 1982"

Widespread adoption of organic farming practices: Estimated impacts on U.S. agriculture

Abstract: According to a national, interregional linear programming model, widespread adoption of organic farming methods in the United States would increase national net farm income and satisfy domestic demand for agricultural products. However, consumer food costs would increase, export levels would decline, regional shifts in production would occur, and the large reserve of potential crop production would disappear.

Some Economic Aspects of Organic Farming in England and Wales

Abstract: (1982). Some Economic Aspects of Organic Farming in England and Wales. Biological Agriculture & Horticulture: Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 65-72.

Macro Implications of a Complete Transformation of U.S. Agricultural Production to Organic Farming Practices

Abstract: A national interregional linear programming model of U.S. agriculture is used to evaluate and compare two conventional and three organic production alternatives. The objective is to estimate the effects on production, supply prices, land use, farm income, and export potential, of a complete transformation of U.S. agriculture to organic practices. Crop yields and production costs are estimated for 150 producing regions for seven crops under both conventional and organic methods. Results indicate that compared to conventional methods, widespread organic farming leads to a decrease in total production, lower export potential, higher supply prices, higher value of production, lower costs of production, and higher net farm income. U.S. domestic crop demand can be met with organic methods, but would be more expensive. Some interregional shifts in crop production would also occur.

Contradictions in Organic Soil Management Practices: Evidence from Thirty-one farms in Maine, U.S.A.

Abstract: The actual soil management practices of 31 organic farms in Maine were compared with the precepts of the “classics” of ecological agriculture. In contradiction to the image of the organic farm as a more-or-less closed nutrient cycle, emphasizing the integration of crop and livestock enterprises, the careful husbanding of livestock wastes, and complex rotations of row crops and sod crops, we discovered that the majority of Maine’s organic farms utilize a greatly simplified fertility regime, one that relies heavily on cheap off-farm poultry manures. “Chicken manure organics” has the appearance of a mutually beneficial symbiosis between the large poultry house operator and the small organic farmer. However, short term expediency has led to an economically vulnerable partnership, since the poultry industry is in decline and manure is becoming a scarce commodity. Furthermore, the dependence upon repeated heavy applications of poorly composted manures (linked to continual row crop production) breeds secondary effects upon soil balance, weed infestation and other conditions that make long term ecological tenability dubious. A large proportion of Maine’s organic farmers will thus soon face an economic and soil management predicament requiring major reform if they are to survive.