March 27, 2008...9:01 pm
another unscientific assumption
I ran into a corn researcher in the hall. We started talking about organic. He’s all for it if that’s what people want to buy. But honestly, he says to me, we both know that we can’t feed everyone with organic. It just doesn’t yield enough. That’s an assumption still held by many — organic yields are too hopelessly low to ever think that it could meet the world’s growing food needs. There have been several studies looking at this issue and the conclusions are always surprising. Here’s the latest published study. It’s out of Wisconsin and is based on a 13 year comparison, published in none other than the prestigious Agronomy Journal, the official journal of The American Society of Agronomy. From the abstract…
“The results of 13 yr at one location and 8 yr at the other showed that: (i) organic forage crops can yield both as much dry matter as their conventional counterparts and with quality sufficient to produce as much milk; and (ii) organic corn (Zea mays L.), soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.], and winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) can produce 90% as well as their conventionally managed counterparts.”
90% is still lower, but I always think about the billions we have spent on research and technology to get conventional yields where they are today. I have to wonder what the yield potential of organic might be if we devoted real resources to it’s development. Resources to overcome issues like this…
“Combining Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trial (WICST) data with other published reports revealed that in 34% of the site-years, weed control was such a problem, mostly due to wet spring weather reducing the effectiveness of mechanical weed control techniques, that the relative yields of low-input corn and soybean were only 74% of conventional systems. However, in the other 66% of the cases, where mechanical weed control was effective, the relative yield of the low-input crops was 99% of conventional systems.” [emphasis added]
OK, so in normal years organic can produce yields equal to conventional. A big part of this is farmer management skill levels. When a farmer converts from conventional to organic it takes time to learn the system. Over time, as the new organic farmer becomes more proficient, yields climb. From the Organic Farming Research Foundation’s FAQ section, they answer the question, “Are organic yields lower?”…
“Based on 154 growing seasons’ worth of data on various crops, organic crops yielded 95% of crops grown under conventional, high-input conditions (Liebhardt, B. “Get the facts straight: organic agriculture yields are good,” OFRF Information Bulletin #10, Summer 2001.). This was by using organic farming methods developed and refined by years of grower experience, independent of the billions of dollars of support provided the agrichemical industries through USDA and the land grant system. If USDA would increase the small proportion of its research funds currently directed toward optimizing organic farming practices, organic has the potential to produce yields fully matching or surpassing those of conventional crops. Growers who go through the 3-year transition period from conventional to organic management usually experience an initial decrease in yields, until soil microbes are re-established and nutrient cycling is in place, at which point yields return to previous levels.”
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