Strategies for Conversion to Organic Production Systems

Strategies for Conversion to Organic Production Systems

Summary

This project has been designed to help farmers generate needed information on how to make a successful conversion to organic production. Its objectives are to:

1) Develop a network of at least 25 farmers committed to research on conversion to organic production;

2) Design and test organic conversion strategies and monitor their effect on the agronomic, economic and social components of the farming system; and

3) Develop and disseminate a manual outlining successful strategies for conversion from conventional to organic production.

Over the past 50 years in southwestern Minnesota, producers have moved away from diversified crop and livestock systems. Today farmers plant more than 90 percent of the cropped acreage of the region to corn and soybeans. Dairy herds have all but vanished while large-scale hog operations are on the rise. Production practices push the growing season, and the land, to the limit: surface and subsurface tile drainage, fall application of nitrogen fertilizer and fall tillage are routine. Chemical control is the single strategy used for combating weeds. Perhaps most importantly, there is wide adherence to the notion that farms should be run on an industrial model with strict attention to the development of economies of scale.

Clearly, these high-input, capital-intensive practices have contributed to the productivity of the region. But they have also led to nitrate leakage into surface and groundwater, shifts to noxious weed species, increased disease pressure, manure disposal problems and slimmer profit margins with resultant displacement of farmers from the land.

The problems facing agriculture in southwestern Minnesota certainly cannot be alleviated through a single alternative crop or production strategy. However, for some small and moderate-scale farmers in the region, organic farming seems to hold promise as a more sustainable system that may help them to survive. They are attracted to organic production because of its potential to boost net returns through reduced input costs and premium prices for certified organic products, to reduce the agrochemical load on the environment and to increase crop, livestock and enterprise diversity within the farming system. But farmers also express frustration at the lack of information available on organic production, particularly in terms of the conversion process.

This three-year project uses a participatory approach in which farmers wishing to convert will collaborate both with researchers and experienced organic growers to design and implement an on-farm trial testing conversion options. Farmers will also be actively involved in intensive monitoring of the trial and the effect that partial conversion to organic production has on the entire farm, its neighbors and the surrounding community. In addition to farmer assessment, adaptability analysis, a statistical technique specifically developed for on-farm research, will be used to identify the conversion strategy that is best suited to individual farming systems.

This project is expected to produce a network of farmers that are experienced and successful in developing on-farm research that generates unbiased and relevant information on farming systems practices. More specifically, it will identify optimal strategies for, or key components of, a successful conversion process. The findings of the project will be made available as a how-to manual on the conversion process, both on the Internet and in a hard-copy version.

For more information:
Elizabeth Dyck
University of Minnesota
Southwest Experiment Station
23669 130th St.
Lamberton, MN 56152
507-752-7372
507-752-7374 (fax)
dyck002@tc.umn.edu