Crop-yield and economic comparisons of organic, low-input, and conventional
farming systems in California's Sacramento Valley
Clark,S., Klonsky,K., Livingston,P., Temple,S.
American Journal of
Alternative Agriculture
Volume 14:109-121, 1999
Crop yields and economic performance of organic, low-input, and conventional farming systems were compared over the period 1989-96, based on research from the Sustainable Agriculture Farming Systems (SAFS) Project in California's Sacramento Valley, USA. The four farming system treatments included four-year rotations under conventional (conv-4), low-input, and organic management, and a conventionally-managed, two-year rotation (conv-2). The four-year rotations included processing tomato, safflower, maize, and beans and a winter grain and/or legume double-cropped with beans. The conv-2 treatment was a tomato and wheat rotation. All crops, except safflower, demonstrated significant yield differences across farming systems in at least some years of the experiment. Nitrogen availability and/or weed competition appeared to account for lower crop yields in the organic and low-input systems in some years. The economics of all farming systems depended mainly on the costs and profits associated with tomato production. The most profitable system was the conv-2 system due to the greater frequency of tomato in that system. Among the four-year rotations, the organic system was the most profitable. However, this system's dependence on price premiums leads to some concern over its long-term economic viability. Among the low-input cropping systems, maize demonstrated clear agronomic and economic advantages over conventional production methods
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