March 31, 2008

 

Organic corn and soy cropping as productive as conventional systems

 

 

Organic cropping systems for corn and soy can be as productive as conventional systems most of the time, a research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and agricultural consulting firm AGSTAT stated.

 

The results of the study were published in the March-April 2008 issue of Agronomy Journal.

 

The researchers primarily based their findings on the Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trials, a study conducted for 13 years, from 1990-2002 at Arlington, Wisconsin and 8 years, from 1990-1997, at Elkhorn, Wisconsin.

 

These trials compared six cropping systems, which were composed of three cash grain and three forage based crops, ranging from diverse, organic systems to less diverse, conventional systems.

 

The cash grain systems were conventional continuous corn, conventional corn-soy, and organic corn-soy-wheat where the wheat included a leguminous cover crop.

 

The three forage based systems were conventional corn-alfalfa-alfalfa-alfalfa, organic corn-oats-alfalfa-alfalfa, and rotationally grazed pasture.

 

The research discovered that organic forage crops yielded as much or more dry matter as their conventional counterparts with quality sufficient to produce as much milk as the conventional systems.

 

Organic grain crops including corn, soy, and winter wheat produced 90 percent as well as their conventionally managed counterparts.

 

In spite of some climatic differences and a large difference in soil drainage between the two sites, the relatively small difference in the way the cropping systems suggested that these results are widely applicable across prairie-derived soils in the US upper Midwest.

 

Meanwhile, a study by Joshua Posner of the University of Wisconsin, states that although researchers found that diverse, low-input/organic cropping systems were as productive as conventional systems most of the time, there is a need for further research.

 

Researchers explained that the question of whether organic cropping systems are as productive as conventional systems is a dynamic question and one that requires continual reevaluation.