If you are trying to buy organic foods, this is a common question: Why do organic fruits and vegetables cost more than “normal” fruits and vegetables? If you think about it, an organic plant is not needing any insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, etc., which cost money. And it is not using any inorganic fertilizers, which also cost money. So… if you take away these things that cost money, how can the price go up? It seems like a scam.
This page gives you the answer to that question in a nutshell:
Organic potatoes: they can be grown, but can they be profitable?
Organic potatoes can be grown on a large-scale without commercial pesticides and standard fertilizers. However, production costs for organic potatoes are higher and their yields are lower than for conventionally produced potatoes. Whether prices for organic potatoes can be high enough to offset these costs remains a question.
What are the costs of organic production? One of the more interesting is the start up cost: “growers need to farm organically for three years prior to being certified organic.” Growers have to do this in order to clear the inorganic fertilizers and pesticides from the soil. During these three years, farmers can’t get a premium price for producing organic crops, but they also can’t use any of the chemicals that boost yields, so they have three years of the worst of both worlds. As a farmer, you might just let the land lay fallow for three years, growing alfalfa or something similar, and eat the cost of doing so.
Why alfalfa? Because alfalfa is one of the few plants (clover is another) that fixes nitrogen from the air and deposits it in the soil. In conventional farming, the nitrogen comes in a bag of fertilizer from a factory. When growing organically you can’t use factory nitrogen. The article points out that an organic potato farmer might grow potatoes one year, alfalfa the next, in a rotation that gives potatoes the nitrogen they need. That rotation increases costs.
What about bugs and weeds? Without pesticides and herbicides, what do you do instead? The answer: “The team used mechanical and cultural practices to control weeds, insects, and potato diseases.” In other words, weeds are dealt with using a hoe rather than a chemical, and bugs/fungus are handled by changing planting dates (a “cultural practice”).
These practices raise the price of potatoes slightly. The practice of crop rotation raises the price of potatoes more (an acre of alfalfa brings in less cash than an acre of potatoes). And then there is the problem with yield. You get less pounds of potatoes per acre when you raise potatoes organically:
Organic potatoes yielded an average of 21,200 pounds per acre over all three varieties, while conventional methods averaged 32,800 pounds per acre. Overall organic production costs averaged $1,074 per acre compared to overall conventional production costs that averaged $928 per acre.
So the farmers get two pounds of organic potatoes for every three pounds he got by conventional methods. And the costs of producing those two pounds of organic potatoes are higher. And there is the cost of the alfalfa rotation and the 3-year start up cost. So obviously, organic potatoes have to cost more in the store. Quite a bit more actually, in order to be profitable.
The same kind of thing happens with any organic crop. The yields are lower and the production costs are higher. That’s why organic food costs more than conventional food. However, there is a big benefit that goes with the cost, alluded to in the article:
In Wisconsin, farmers grow potatoes on light, sandy soils under irrigation and rely heavily on purchased chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Since sandy soils are typically more permeable than heavier soils, many people worry about these chemicals passing through the soil and contaminating the groundwater.
The research team substituted cultural and biological inputs for synthetic chemical inputs. By not putting the chemicals on the land, they hoped to eliminate the negative effects on the environment. “Organic potato production removes the environmental concerns associated with pesticides and nutrients,” said Jeffrey Wyman, the research team leader.
In other words, organic practices are better for the groundwater and everyone/everything that comes in contact with it.
See also:
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Filed under: BrainStuff Tagged: Alfalfa, chemicals, Conventional farming, environmental protection, farming, Herbicides, insecticides, Organic, organic farming, Organic foods, Pesticides, Potatoes
