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4352: How economic is organic? Results of a long-term trial at Burgrain/Lucerne, Switzerland

Fried, Padruot M.; Zihlmann, Urs; Strasser, Fredi; Tschachtli, Ruedi; Ammann, Helmut and Dubois, David (2005) How economic is organic? Results of a long-term trial at Burgrain/Lucerne, Switzerland. Paper presented at Researching Sustainable Systems - International Scientific Conference on Organic Agriculture, Adelaide, Australia, September 21-23, 2005.

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Summary

Long-term trials are necessary not only to judge agronomic and ecological indicators when studying organic farming, but also to analyze and describe economic parameters. From 1997-2002, an organic arable farming system (Bio) was compared with two Integrated farming systems (IP intensive and IP extensive) on 6 plots in a 6-year crop rotation at Burgrain near Lucerne, Switzerland. The 6 plots were subdivided into 3 subplots of 0.65 ha each. In the organic system, the input of fertilizer and pesticides was substantially reduced, which resulted in a yield reduction of 19% over all 4 arable crops and of 14% if the temporary lays are included. Nevertheless, the organic system showed an excellent net profit, mainly due to the higher prices paid to the farmers for the organic products. The influence of the direct governmental payments was less pronounced.

Document Language:English
Keywords:Organic Farming, Economics, Long-term Trial, Net Profit, Field Crops
Subject Areas:Knowledge management > Research methodology and philosophy > Specific methods
Research affiliation: International Conferences > ISOFAR conferences > Researching Sustainable Systems 2005
Total budget (Euro):0
Orgprints ID Number:4352
Contact:ISOFAR,
Deposited On:23 November 2005
EPrint Type:Conference paper
Published?:Unpublished
Peer Review Status:Peer-reviewed and accepted
Additional Publishing Information:The paper presented here is the final paper submitted by the authors to the conference Researching Sustainable Systems.
The final edited papers are available with the following publication:
Köpke, Ulrich; Niggli, Urs; Neuhoff, Daniel; Cornish, Peter; Lockeretz, Willie und Willer, Helga, (Hrsg.) (2005) Researching Sustainable Systems. Proceedings of the First Scientific Conference of the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research (ISOFAR), Held in Cooperation with the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and the National Association for Sustainable Agriculture, Australia (NASAA), 21 – 23 September 2005, Adelaide Convention Centre, Adelaide, South Australia.. Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL, CH-Frick, and International Society of Organic Agriculture Research (ISOFAR), c/o Institute of Organic Agriculture (IOL), DE-University of Bonn. http://orgprints.org/4013/
Distribution: Paper copies may be ordered from FiBL at a cost of 28 Euros plus mailing costs (see FiBL shop at http://www.fibl.org/shop); FiBL order number 1394. A PDF version is available free of charge for ISOFAR members via the member area of www.isofar.org.
Related Links:http://orgprints.org/4013/, http://www.isofar.org/adelaide2005, http://orgprints.org/view/projects/int-conf-isofar-2005.html

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