Crop Management最新文献

{"title":"Social Dimensions of Organic Production and Systems Research","authors":"Douglas Harbin Constance,&nbsp;Jin Young Choi,&nbsp;Damian Lara","doi":"10.1094/CM-2012-0429-01-RV","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1094/CM-2012-0429-01-RV","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 <p>Organic food production in the United States began as a social movement response to the perceived negative externalities of an industrial food system. The agro-ecological advantages and production capabilities of organics have been well documented. To harmonize the various organic certification schemes, the national standard was developed and put into law in 2002. Since that time a process of organic conventionalization and bifurcation has occurred as traditional producers have entered the market and major firms have consolidated their organic positions. Conventionalization refers to the process by which organics take on similar characteristics of the mainstream agrifood system. Bifurcation refers to the process of organics dividing into large scale certified-organic operations selling in indirect markets and small-scale operations selling in direct markets based on trust. In this paper, we review the literature on conventionalization and bifurcation and contextualize it within the larger discussion on the sociology of agrifood. We conclude that organics provide a valuable case for looking at the ecological, social, and economic dimensions of an agricultural system and reveal future challenges regarding the long term sustainability of organics.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":100342,"journal":{"name":"Crop Management","volume":"12 1","pages":"1-10"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1094/CM-2012-0429-01-RV","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91883249","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Organic Research Activities of the USDA's Agricultural Research Service","authors":"Matt C. Smith Ph.D., P.E.","doi":"10.1094/CM-2013-0429-05-PS","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1094/CM-2013-0429-05-PS","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) chief intramural scientific research agency. Our job is finding solutions to agricultural problems that affect Americans every day, from field to table. Organic research is a vital and ongoing part of the overall ARS research portfolio and occurs at approximately 20 % of ARS research locations across the United States. The vision for ARS organic agriculture research is to help the organic industry overcome the challenges it faces related to productivity, profitability, environmental stewardship, and energy efficiency. ARS's organic research is an interdisciplinary research approach to understand the biological and physical processes innate to plants, soils, invertebrates, and microbes that naturally regulate pest problems and soil fertility so as to not rely on the use of synthetic pesticide and fertilizer production inputs. The agency's scientists are mainly seeking strategies to prevent the problems faced by organic growers and then, secondarily, looking for therapeutic controls that they can use. From a practical standpoint, this whole-system approach also describes a large part of ARS's research to improve conventional agriculture. Many of the results and lessons learned from conventional ARS research can be readily applied to organic farming systems, and vice versa. The objective of ARS organic agriculture research is to help producers compete effectively in the marketplace by producing abundant amounts of high-quality and safe products to meet consumer demands. A few illustrative examples of the types of organic research activities being performed by ARS scientists are presented below.</p><p>The challenge of integrating conservation tillage practices into organic production systems is a primary focus of the research at the Sustainable Agricultural Systems Laboratory (SASL) in Beltsville, MD, and is detailed in an accompanying article in these proceedings. SASL research seeks to address the challenges related to weeds and fertility in organic production. The research is focused primarily on organic grain production but includes practices that are applicable to vegetable production as well. A major SASL asset is a 17-year Farming Systems Project that compares two conventional and three organic grain crop rotations. Recent SASL research has led to the development of improved cover crops for increased fertility, improved soil conservation, and weed control. A scientist at the ARS National Soil Dynamics Laboratory in Auburn, AL, has been developing new and improved designs for roller-crimpers to manage and terminate cover crops while maintaining high residue cover. Numerous designs and prototypes have been developed and tested in varying cropping systems across the State of Alabama. The most recent version is designed for small vegetable production systems and is powered by a self-propelled, walk-behind garden tractor (additional information on these efforts is ","PeriodicalId":100342,"journal":{"name":"Crop Management","volume":"12 1","pages":"1-2"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1094/CM-2013-0429-05-PS","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91884223","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Productivity, Economics, and Soil Quality in the Minnesota Variable-Input Cropping Systems Trial","authors":"Jeffrey A. Coulter,&nbsp;Timothy A. Delbridge,&nbsp;Robert P. King,&nbsp;Deborah L. Allan,&nbsp;Craig C. Sheaffer","doi":"10.1094/CM-2013-0429-03-RS","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1094/CM-2013-0429-03-RS","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 <p>Organic input (OI) and low external input (LEI) cropping systems with extended crop rotations have potential to maintain crop yields while enhancing net return and soil quality. From 1992 to 2007, contrasting cropping systems were evaluated in a 2-year soybean [<i>Glycine max</i>(L.) Merr.]-corn (<i>Zea mays</i>L.) rotation and a 4-year oat (<i>Avena sativa</i>L.)/alfalfa (<i>Medicago sativa</i>L.)-alfalfa-corn-soybean rotation in southwestern Minnesota. When compared to the high external input (HEI) 2-year rotation, corn grain yield was not reduced with LEI and OI 4-year rotations, and soybean yield was not reduced with the LEI 4-year rotation over all 16 years or with the LEI 2-year rotation in the last 4 years. Across years and crops, net return was 88% greater with the OI 4-year rotation than the HEI 2-year rotation, but was 19 and 15% lower with the LEI 2- and 4-year rotation, respectively. Particulate organic matter and potentially mineralizable C in 2001 were higher with the OI system than the other systems in both rotations. These results demonstrate that with diversified rotations, organic systems can produce high and profitable crop yields while enhancing soil quality, and that corn and soybean yields can be maintained in LEI systems. However, OI and LEI systems are constrained by greater management and labor requirements and pest management challenges than HEI systems.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":100342,"journal":{"name":"Crop Management","volume":"12 1","pages":"1-11"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1094/CM-2013-0429-03-RS","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91884227","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Organic Farming Systems Research Conference: Exploring Agronomic, Economic, Ecological, and Social Dimensions—Introduction to the Proceedings","authors":"Kathleen Merrigan","doi":"10.1094/CM-2013-0429-01-PS","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1094/CM-2013-0429-01-PS","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Organic food sales have tripled in the United States over the last decade, and industry analysts project that this fast-paced retail growth will continue into the next decade. At the direction of Congress, USDA played a key role in market development by establishing national organic standards and enforcing them. USDA's Strategic Plan recognizes the important potential of the organic economy and envisions 25 percent growth in US organic businesses from 2009-2015. We are building technical assistance, conservation programs and other measures to assist organic producers. Research on organic farming systems will also play a crucial role in supporting the growth needed for organic production to meet the fast-growing demand.</p><p>On March 16-18, 2011, USDA held a major conference in Washington, DC, to examine findings from research on organic farming systems, including many longstanding projects. Researchers from over a dozen universities and other research institutions presented empirical findings on the agronomic, economic, ecological, and quality-of-life performance of organic farming systems. Researchers from both within and outside of USDA presented findings on organic farming systems.</p><p>The papers in these proceedings are organized into the main topics represented at the conference—research findings from long-term experiments, research findings from producer surveys, and organic research activities in USDA. Three keynote presentations are also included in the proceedings. Reganold's opening keynote presentation tackles the issue of how we measure and compare the impacts of alternative farming systems. He examines the use of particular metrics and integrative research approaches, and notes the expanding set of parameters being used as well as the expanding set of opportunities for organic systems research.</p><p>The first group of papers examines the agronomic, economic, and ecological findings from long-term organic cropping systems experiments in different parts of the US—Iowa, Minnesota, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. All four papers present evidence that organic corn and soybean yields can be competitive with conventional systems, and can out-compete conventional systems in terms of profitability. Delate's results from the Iowa State University's Long-Term Agroecological (LTAR) experiment also show higher levels of soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, and extractable potassium and calcium in the organic systems. Coulter also finds higher levels of particulate organic matter and potentially mineralizable carbon in the organic systems in the University of Minnesota's Variable Input Crop Management Systems trial.</p><p>Cavigelli's perspective piece examines the USDA's Beltsville Farming Systems Project in Maryland, which was established in 1996. This trial has three organic grain cropping systems that differ in crop rotation length and complexity. Research findings show that increasing cropping system diversity improves the agronomic, econom","PeriodicalId":100342,"journal":{"name":"Crop Management","volume":"12 1","pages":"1-3"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1094/CM-2013-0429-01-PS","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91884230","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparing Organic and Conventional Farming Systems: Metrics and Research Approaches","authors":"John P. Reganold","doi":"10.1094/CM-2013-0429-01-RS","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1094/CM-2013-0429-01-RS","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 <p>With the rise of organic farming worldwide, researchers are being presented with new opportunities to study organic systems and also to compare them to their conventional counterparts. This paper focuses on farming systems research comparing organic and conventional agroecosystems. The types of farming systems comparison studies, some of the metrics used, and integrative research approaches to farming systems studies are discussed. To hasten implementation of more sustainable agricultural systems, more farming systems comparison research, especially interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary, is needed, which brings together multiple disciplines and, when possible, non-academic participants to measure key sustainability indicators and/or ecosystem services. Such research does not just need to compare organic and conventional systems. In addition to organic farming systems, other innovative systems make up a modest, but growing, component of US and global agriculture and include alternative livestock production (e.g., grass-fed), mixed crop/livestock systems, conservation agriculture, integrated farming, agroforestry, and perennial grains. Such systems integrate production, environmental, and socioeconomic objectives and reflect greater awareness of ecosystem services. These systems can be studied in farming systems research, in which they are compared with each other or with conventional systems.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":100342,"journal":{"name":"Crop Management","volume":"12 1","pages":"1-6"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1094/CM-2013-0429-01-RS","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91883248","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Organic Data-National Agricultural Statistics Service","authors":"Donald Buysse","doi":"10.1094/CM-2013-0429-07-PS","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1094/CM-2013-0429-07-PS","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) conducts hundreds of surveys each year and prepares reports that cover virtually every facet of US agriculture-production and supplies of food and fiber, prices paid and received by farmers, farm labor and wages, and other aspects of the industry, see www.usda.gov/nass. In addition, NASS's 45 State Statistical Offices (see www.usda.gov/nass/sso-rpts.htm) publish data about many of the same topics for local audiences.</p><p>Every 5 years, Congress requires NASS to conduct a Census of Agriculture. The Census of Agriculture is the most comprehensive source of data portraying US agriculture. It is the only source of uniform data on agricultural production and operator characteristics for each county, state, and the United States.</p><p>The 2007 Census of Agriculture covered land acreage and sales of organically produced products grown according to the National Organic Standards. Farming operations with organic production were asked total production acres, cropland harvested acres, acres used for pasture, and sales of organic commodities in three classes-crops, livestock, and livestock products (which include eggs and milk). Also reported were the acres being converted to future organic production.</p><p>The 2012 Census of Agriculture will screen for certified, exempt, and acres transitioning to certified organic production along with an overall value of sales for exempt and certified products. This is a reduction in the organic content compared to the 2007 Census of Agriculture. The screening and value of sales questions are sufficient for establishing a population for further data collection efforts such as follow-on surveys or collaborative projects in which NASS may collect more detailed information about organic producers.</p><p>Targeted operations for the 2008 Organic Production Survey were farms that were certified organic, farms exempt from certification, and farms transitioning to organic production. The overall survey response rate for the 2008 Organic Production Survey was 87%. Final results from the Organic Production survey were published on February 3, 2010. Data were published at the national level and by State when applicable. The report is available at www.nass.usda.gov.</p><p>NASS conducted the 2011 Certified Organic Production Survey in conjunction with USDA's Risk Management Agency.The target population was all farms and ranches meeting the standards of the National Organic Program administrated by the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service. The survey was a complete enumeration of all known certified organic producers in 2011.</p><p>The 2011 Certified Organic Production Survey provides acreage, production, and sales data for a variety of certified organic crops and inventory and sales data for selected certified organic livestock commodities. In addition, data for land in farms, participation in federal farm programs, and marketing practices on certified organic farms are inclu","PeriodicalId":100342,"journal":{"name":"Crop Management","volume":"12 1","pages":"1-2"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1094/CM-2013-0429-07-PS","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91883247","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Organic Agriculture's Contribution to Sustainability","authors":"Nadia El-Hage Scialabba","doi":"10.1094/CM-2013-0429-09-PS","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1094/CM-2013-0429-09-PS","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Sustainability is about ecosystem integrity, social well-being, economic resilience, and good governance. According to the current state of knowledge and development, how does organic agriculture contribute to each of these sustainability dimensions?</p><p>Sustainability has first been equated with environmental soundness in order to ensure the continued provision of goods and services to present and future generations. Organic agriculture, as defined by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, “is a holistic production management system that avoids use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and genetically-modified organisms, minimizes pollution of air, soil and water, and optimizes the health and productivity of interdependent communities of plants, animals and people.”</p><p>In organic agriculture, limiting external inputs necessitates adaptation to local conditions in order to harness ecosystem services and increase production efficiency. To this end, the main organic strategies include: rotations, diversification and integration of crop, livestock, tree, and fish to the extent possible in order to optimize nutrient cycling; use of local varieties and breeds in order to increase the system resilience to stress; use of biological pest control to enhance predators; and promotion of symbiotic nitrogen fixation and biomass recycling.</p><p>Organic management is associated with several positive impacts on land and water, including: increased soil fertility and thus, enhanced productivity; better soil structure that increases stability to environmental stress; better soil moisture retention and drainage, which result in 20 to 60% less irrigation requirements; less water pollution and nitrate leaching in groundwater; reduced erosion by wind, water, and overgrazing (currently, 10 million hectares of land is lost annually by unsustainable agricultural practices); and better soil carbon sequestration rates. A new meta-analysis indicates that soil organic carbon stocks were 3.5 metric tons per hectare higher in organic than in non-organic farming systems and that organic farming systems sequestered up to 450 kg more atmospheric carbon per hectare and year through CO₂ bound into soil organic matter.</p><p>Overall, energy use by organic farms may be reduced by one-third, as compared to conventional enterprises, due to more efficiency in biological nitrogen fixation. Existing studies report less energy use on organic farms, from 10-70% in Europe and 29-37% in the USA, with exceptions for some crops. The heart of the matter is that chemical agriculture uses 2 kcal of fossil fuel to produce 1 kcal of food energy. This low energy efficiency is compounded by higher oil prices that lead to higher farm input prices, in addition to peak oil, sooner or later. The energy issue requires more attention to paradigms such as organic agriculture in order to face future food challenges.</p><p>In line with the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change 4th Assessmen","PeriodicalId":100342,"journal":{"name":"Crop Management","volume":"12 1","pages":"1-3"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1094/CM-2013-0429-09-PS","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91569487","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Cost Comparison of Organic and Conventional Apple Production in the State of Washington","authors":"Mykel Taylor,&nbsp;David Granatstein","doi":"10.1094/CM-2013-2013-0429-05-RS","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1094/CM-2013-2013-0429-05-RS","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 <p>Organic apple production expanded rapidly during the past decade due to strong demand, new technology, and price premiums, which suggests it is profitable for growers. No rigorous analysis of cost of production has been done to help project profitability in the face of continued increase in supply. The data presented here compare two methods of estimating cost of production and find that production of organic apples in Washington State, the leading producer, is approximately 5 to 10% more costly than conventional production on a per-acre basis.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":100342,"journal":{"name":"Crop Management","volume":"12 1","pages":"1-7"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1094/CM-2013-2013-0429-05-RS","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91883246","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Research Activities on Organic Production and Marketing in USDA's Economic Research Service","authors":"Catherine Greene","doi":"10.1094/CM-2013-0429-06-PV","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1094/CM-2013-0429-06-PV","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Economic Research Service (ERS), USDA's principal social science research agency, began examining organic production and marketing issues in the 1980s. ERS initially studied the emerging organic produce sector, and then initiated a US statistical reporting series on certified organic acreage and livestock in the 1990s based on information from organic certifiers. During the last decade, ERS has substantially expanded research on the organic industry, examining the adoption of organic farming systems, production costs and returns in major crop and livestock sectors, and the characteristics of organic supply chains and consumer demand.</p><p>ERS research shows that in the United States, growth in the organic food and agriculture sectors has been driven primarily by consumer demand. During the last decade, industry estimates show that organic food sales more than tripled from $7 billion in 2001 to over $26 billion in 2011 (<span>7</span>). Market penetration has also grown steadily and organic food products accounted for more than 3.5% of total US food sales in 2011. Consumer demand has also spurred extensive trade in this sector, and the US recently began tracking trade statistics for a pilot set of organic products (<span>10</span>).</p><p>ERS collaborates with over 50 State and private certification organizations, the National Agricultural Statistics Service, and other partners to make estimates of the extent of certified organic farmland acreage and livestock. These data are presented by commodity, and by State, beginning in 1997 (<span>9</span>). Between 2002, when USDA implemented national organic standards, and 2008, certified organic cropland acreage more than doubled in the United States, and certified pasture grew even faster. These data show that nearly 9% of the vegetable crop acres in the United States, 3% of the fruit and tree nut acres, and 4% of the dairy cows were managed under certified organic farming systems in 2008. However, the data also reveal that the organic adoption rate is still low for grain crops, and organic grain shortages remain a bottleneck for expansion of the US organic livestock sector.</p><p>Although the overall organic farm sector continues to be one of the fastest growing segments of US agriculture, the economic research on this sector has mostly been conducted in experimental settings. In 2005, ERS and NASS expanded USDA's annual economic producer survey to include a targeted oversample of organic producers in order to enable side-by-side comparisons between organic and conventional production systems. This annual survey, the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS), collects detailed information about farmer's production practices, as well as costs and returns in major farm sectors.</p><p>Since the mid-2000s, ERS has included targeted organic oversamples in the ARMS survey to examine the dairy sector (in 2005 and 2010), soybeans (in 2006), apples (2007), wheat (2009), and corn (2010). ERS uses da","PeriodicalId":100342,"journal":{"name":"Crop Management","volume":"12 1","pages":"1-3"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1094/CM-2013-0429-06-PV","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91822975","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Supporting Organic Agriculture in USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)","authors":"Megan O’Reilly,&nbsp;Caroline Sherony,&nbsp;Mary Peet","doi":"10.1094/CM-2013-0429-08-PS","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1094/CM-2013-0429-08-PS","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The purpose of this article is to briefly describe how NIFA's research, teaching, and extension investments in the three programs focusing on organic agriculture were apportioned to geographic areas, agricultural commodities, and topics from 2002-2011. NIFA investments in other competitive and non-competitive programs supplement this funding to some extent. However, most NIFA organic agriculture funding (Fig. 1) can be traced to the Organic Transitions Program (ORG), created by the 1998 farm bill and originally funded at $500,000 annually; and the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI), created by the 2002 farm bill and originally funded at $3 million yearly. In 2009, ORG funds were combined with funds from another NIFA program, the Integrated Water Quality Program (IOWQP), to focus on environmental services. In 2009, funding for OREI increased to $18 million, followed by funding of almost $20 million from 2010 through 2012. ORG funding changed in 2010 to $5 million and then to $4 million in 2011 and 2012. IOWQP was only offered in 2009, but the environmental services focus continued in ORG and was removed from OREI in 2011 and 2012.</p><p>NIFA's investments in competitive programs are guided by priorities in the request for applications (RFAs) and awardees are selected through a rigorous peer review panel process based on relevance and scientific merit, among other factors. Only a small percentage of applicants receive NIFA awards: 26 to 47% and 8 to 16% for ORG and OREI respectively, from 2010 to 2012. Thus it is interesting to examine the extent to which the geographical distribution of these awards (Fig. 2) reflects the geographical distribution of the organic industry (<span>1</span>) (Fig. 3).</p><p>Most states have received at least one NIFA research award, but institutions in the Midwest, North Atlantic, and Pacific West regions (Fig. 2) have been the most successful. These three regions also led the US in organic sales in 2011 (<span>1</span>) (Fig. 3) with over $2 billion in sales in the Pacific West region, followed by over $519 million in sales in the Midwest region and over $340 million in sales in the North Atlantic region.</p><p>Similarly, the emphasis on fruits and vegetables in the distribution of awards to specific crop commodities (Fig. 4) reflects their importance to some extent. Markets for organic vegetables, fruits, and herbs have been developing for decades, and fresh produce was the top category in 2008 retail organic sales (<span>2</span>). From 1995 to 2008, certified organic fruit and nut production acreage rose from zero to 121,066 acres or 3.15% of total cropland (<span>2</span>). Organic carrots accounted for 13% of all US carrot acreage, the highest of any major commodity, followed by lettuce at 8% and apples at 5%. Although organic grain and oilseed crops represent only a small fraction of total US acreage: corn (0.2%), soybeans (0.2%), and wheat (0.7%) projects were funded to address a sh","PeriodicalId":100342,"journal":{"name":"Crop Management","volume":"12 1","pages":"1-5"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1094/CM-2013-0429-08-PS","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91884222","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}