Progress 09/01/09 to 08/31/10
Outputs OUTPUTS: This project conducted by Northern Great Plains, Inc. involved an analysis of organic agriculture in the state of North Dakota. Objectives were as follows: 1)Assess opportunities in organic agriculture for North Dakota, and 2) Outline a strategic response to the emergence of a global system of pre-farmgate private sector protocols. This infomation was compiled in a 23-page report entitled, Organic Agriculture: A Promising Future which was generously referenced to serve as a sourcebook for users. The down-loadable report was disseminated by posting on the Internet. Also, collaboration occurred with the Entrepreneurial Center for Horticulture at Dakota College in Bottineau to provide a guide for program development. PARTICIPANTS: Jerry Nagel; Director, Northern Great Plains,Inc.;Fargo, ND Maggie Schmaltz; Research Associate, Northern Great Plains. TARGET AUDIENCES: Crop and truck farmers, consumers, economic development entities. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts The study concluded there is opportunity for organic agriculture in North Dakota; with more demand for organic products than supply. The choice to farm organic may be more of a philosophical choice than an economic one. Farmers may have a belief in health benefits or for land stewardship. Organic farming could also be economical but there are limited comparative data regarding profitablity in the northern plains. FINBIN (www.finbin.umn.edu) is a farm financial and production resource for farm producers, educators, lenders, and other agricultural professionals. The site consists of data from agricultural producers who use FINPACK for farm business analysis. FINBIN allows the selection of Income Statements, Balance Sheets, and Farm Financial Standards measures. It allows choosing crops or livestock along with different farmer characteristics. FINBIN contains data from several states but at this time, contains none for North Dakota so we used data for Minnesota. We compared 4 crops; conventional and organic. For cash rent soybeans, the total number of Minnesota farms in 2008 for conventional soybeans was 1,396 and 17 in organic soybeans. In 2008, the value for organic soybeans in Minnesota was $22.84/bu, while conventional soybeans were $9.57/bu. The net return over labor and management for organic soybeans was $160.55/acre and $86.79/a for conventional soybeans. For spring wheat, there were 7 organic spring wheat farms and 416 conventional in Minnesota in 2008. The value per bushel for organic spring wheat was $15.04 and $6.74 for conventional in 2008. Organic spring wheat had a larger net return over labor and management than conventional spring wheat; $306.70/a compared to $97.50/a for conventional spring wheat. Organic corn in Minnesota also had a higher return than conventional. Twenty-two Minnesota organic corn farms in 2008 had a net return over labor and management of $572.43/a compared to 1400 conventional corn farms with $125.39/a. These 3 different crops all saw organic being more profitable. Alfalfa hay is a different story. In Minnesota, there were 352 conventional alfalfa hay farms in 2008 and 20 organic. Conventional alfalfa hay was more profitable with $183.66/a in net return over labor and management compared to organic alfalfa hay with $86.15. Profitable or not, economic or philosophical, health benefit or respect for the land, people choose to farm or buy organic for varying reasons. Organic production is still relatively new; however, it is continuing to grow in popularity. Organic agriculture does have a future in the U.S. and in North Dakota. What the future entails is still unknown.
Publications
- Schmaltz, M. 2010. Organic Agriculture: A Promising Future. A 23-page report. http://www.ngplains.org/articles/view/221
|