Do organic livestock farms differ from low-input conventional ones? Insights based on beef cattle in southern Europe

Summary

The objective of this study is to determine whether there are clear differences between conventional (but low-input) and organic beef cattle farms located in the Southwest of Spain. 33 conventional and 30 organic farms were compared in terms of structure, technical management, and performance. The results showed that organic farms (‘All Organic’) mainly focus on the production of calves at weaning age which are fattened in conventional holdings (‘Organic 1’; n= 22). The remaining organic farms (‘Organic 2’; n=11) showed to participate in almost all stages of the agri-value chain. ‘Conventional’ farms were mainly dedicated to producing calves at weaning age (similarly to Organic 1). Organic 1 had the smallest herd size: 80.18 LU, p<0.05). Organic 2 showed greater presence of indigenous breeds (62.08%, p <0.05). Conventional farms proved to bear higher feed and veterinary costs per area (161.59 and 17.87 € / ha; p <0.01 and p<0.05, respectively), but Organic 2 had higher feed costs per LU. Therefore, Conventional and All Organic were quite similar, and differences depended mainly on farm structure. Hence, being either conventional or organic does not seem to be a valid criterion for drawing conclusions regarding the benefits or characteristics of each system.