Economic Responses of Maize, Soybean, and Wheat in Three Rotations under Conventional and Organic Systems

Low prices have prompted growers to contemplate transitioning to an organic system. We evaluated red clover-maize-soybean-wheat (Cl-M-S-W), maize-soybean (M-S-M-S), and soybean-wheat/red clover-maize-soybean (S-W/Cl-M-S) rotations in organic and conventional systems in New York, USA from 2015 to 2018 to identify profitable organic practices. Organic compared with conventional maize in 2017 had 14.6% higher yield and $2107/ha higher returns above selected costs in the S-W/Cl-M-S rotation; and had $1007/ha higher returns in the M-S-M-S rotation, despite 3.6% lower yield and higher production costs, because of the organic price premium. Likewise, organic compared with conventional soybean had ~$800 to ~$900/ha higher returns in 2017 and 2018, despite ~10% lower yield and ~$50/ha higher production costs, because of the organic price premium. Organic compared with conventional wheat yielded ~4% higher with $125/ha higher returns, despite ~$435/ha higher production costs. Organic compared with the conventional system had $1018/ha higher returns in the Cl-M-S-W rotation, $1782/ha higher in the M-S-M-S rotation, and $2961/ha higher in the S-W/Cl-M-S rotation in 2017 and 2018. Although returns in 2015 and 2016 (no organic premium) were lower, the organic compared with the conventional system from 2015 to 2018 had $673/ha higher returns in the Cl-M-S-W rotation, $497/ha higher in the M-S-M-S rotation, and $2355/ha higher in the S-W/Cl-M-S rotation indicating that the S-W/Cl-M-S rotation was the most profitable organic rotation during the four-year period.