Comparison of Production Costs and Resource Use for Organic and Conventional Production Systems

نویسنده

  • KAREN KLONSKY
چکیده

The USDA established the National Organic Program (NOP) to develop national standards for organically produced agricultural products and establish an organic certification program as required by the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) passed by Congress in 1990. Organic crop production excludes conventional pesticides, petroleum – based fertilizers, and sewage sludge based fertilizers with some notable exceptions. OFPA also required the establishment of the “National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances” for use in organic agriculture. The National List includes allowed synthetic substances and prohibited non-synthetic (natural) materials. The NOP crop standards require that soil fertility and crop nutrients be managed through tillage and cultivation practices, crop rotations and cover crops, supplemented with animal and crop waste materials, allowed mined substances, and synthetic materials allowed on the National List. Similarly, crop pests, weeds, and diseases are required to be controlled primarily through cultural practices such as tillage and cultivation, hand weeding, crop rotations, sanitation, and the introduction of predators or parasites. When these methods prove to be insufficient, growers may use approved natural or synthetic substances on the National List. Therefore, contrary to popular perceptions, NOP regulations do not require organic production practices to be void of fertilizers and pesticides. In practice, the use of allowable supplemental fertilizers and pesticides varies from crop to crop depending on pest pressures,

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

منابع مشابه

Generation Scheduling in Large-Scale Power Systems with Wind Farms Using MICA

The growth in demand for electric power and the rapid increase in fuel costs, in whole of theworld need to discover new energy resources for electricity production. Among of the nonconventionalresources, wind and solar energy, is known as the most promising deviceselectricity production in the future. In this thesis, we study follows to long-term generationscheduling of power systems in the pre...

متن کامل

Organic dairy farming: cost of production and profitability

Introduction Cost of production The cost of organic dairying Massey University organic /conventional comparison trial Summary Acknowledgements References Appendix Abstract. Organic milk production in the European Union (EU) costs more than conventional production and therefore requires a price premium (15-25%) and an increase in direct payments to ensure the same level of profitability. In Euro...

متن کامل

A Comparison of Conventional and Organic Milk Production Systems in the U.S

Organic milk production is one of the fastest growing segments of organic agriculture in the U.S., but little is known about the relative costs and returns of organic and conventional dairies. This study utilizes a nationwide survey of dairy operations for 2005 that includes a targeted sample of organic dairies. Treatment-effect sample-selection models were specified to isolate the impact of ch...

متن کامل

Comparison of Aeroponics and Conventional Soil Systems for Potato Minitubers Production and Evaluation of Their Quality Characters

Two different propagation procedures including aeroponics and soil systems were compared for the minitubers production in potato. The minitubers were evaluated for several quality characters. The plant materials were from three cultivars, Agria, Marfona and Savalan. The plantlets were grown in aeroponics and soil production systems at a plant density of 100 plants per m-2 and stem length, root ...

متن کامل

The profitability of organic soybean production

Results from long-term experimental trials suggest that similar yields and lower costs are possible with organic compared to conventional soybeans, but there is little information about the relative costs and returns of these systems on commercial farms. This study examines the profitability of commercial soybean production using a nationwide survey of soybean producers for 2006 that includes a...

متن کامل

ذخیره در منابع من


  با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

عنوان ژورنال:

دوره   شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2011