Determining the Methods for Measuring the Economic and Fiscal Impacts Associated with Organic Crop Conversion in Iowa

This research demonstrates methods for comparing the potential region-wide economic impact value of organic versus conventional crop practices. The impetus for this research was the passage of a county ordinance in Woodbury County, Iowa, allowing a maximum of $50,000 of county property tax abatements for qualifying conventional-to-organic production conversions. This study used Iowa State University Cooperative Extension Service crop enterprise budget information to compare the returns to operators of two productions systems: a conventional corn-soybean rotation versus an organic rotation consisting of corn–soybeans–oats-alfalfa. The research demonstrated that there are very strong differences not only in the superior average returns to organic farming operators when compared to conventional corn–soybean operations, but in the overall economic impacts.