Commercial Crop Yields Reveal Strengths and Weaknesses for Organic Agriculture in the United States.

ABSTRACT: Land area devoted to organic agriculture has increased steadily over the last 20 years in the United States, and elsewhere around the world. A primary criticism of organic agriculture is lower yield compared to non-organic systems. Previous analyses documenting the yield deficiency in organic production have relied mostly on data generated under experimental conditions, but these studies do not necessarily reflect the full range of innovation or practical limitations that are part of commercial agriculture. The analysis we present here offers a new perspective, based on organic yield data collected from over 10,000 organic farmers representing nearly 800,000 hectares of organic farmland. We used publicly available data from the United States Department of Agriculture to estimate yield diff

SUBMITTER: Kniss AR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4995028 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature