Farm economics in Organic Farming

Background and Objective

At the Thünen-Institute of Organic Farming organic production systems for plant and animal production are researched and further developed in order to make the results useful for farmers, consulting and politics.

Up to now, the projects have been economically accompanied by the Thünen-Institute of Farm Economics. The economic evaluation of the projects is to be intensified and the systemic management in organic farming is to be taken more into account. For this purpose, an on-site observation, especially at the experimental station/farm, makes sense.

Approach

After identifying the most relevant projects in terms of their significance for agricultural practice, the scientific data collected in the trials are supplemented with business key figures and prices. Then the results obtained in the projects are compared with other methods using model calculations. The other methods can be either organic or conventional. It is important to quantify the cost advantage or disadvantage of the examined project in each case so that conclusions can be drawn for farmers, consultants and policy-makers.

Data and Methods

Data collected in the evaluated projects as well as supplementary publicly available data from other production systems are used.The following data sources are used:Data from practice and research at the experimental station of the Thünen Institute of Organic Agriculture in Trenthorst.Data from key persons who can evaluate the production technology innovations (interviews).Data from the literature, databases and also the Internet, which are not available in calculative form at the experimental station in this way, but are practical.

Our Research Questions

1. How do the costs in particular develop when the innovations are introduced?what additional revenue would the farmer have to receive when the researched innovation is introduced?how can production technology innovations from experiments be evaluated economically?

Preliminary Results

Results are available in the form of statements or reports (see publications).