Impact of new technologies and changes in legislation on the income on organic farming

Summary

In this project the economic consequences of legislative changes and new technology in organic farming has been examined. Through an interactive process between research experts and agricultural advisors is a technical and biological description of 8 organic case-farms encountering 4 arable, 3 dairy and a single pig farm envisioned (Nielsen et al., 2003). The crop rotation and the production structure of the case farms were chosen as to depict the organic farms of the near future. In order to analyse the consequences on labour input, machinery input and operational cost, case studies have been chosen as the overall methodology. Scenario planning is used as the method of combining factual data and expert evidence to create imaginable and credible scenarios envisioning possible futures.
The most relevant innovative technologies in an organic setting have been selected. The technologies include automatic milking, GPS controlled allocation of manure, band-steaming and robotic weeding for intra-row weed control. Some of these technologies will also be introduced on conventional farms. The legislative changes have their focal point in the organic philosophy and could overall be described as a step towards a 100 percent organic production. These changes include 100 pct. organic feed, straw and animal manure (stop for use of conventional animal manure).