Making Money While Farming Organically

One of the assumptions conventional farmers make about organic farming is that it is too expensive to convert to organic farming and make any money. Jeff Klinge has the data to prove them wrong. Since 1997, Klinge has tracked expenses and returns on his organic crops versus his conventional crops. (Klinge was growing both while the farm was in transition.) Later, he compared his profits to those of his brother’s conventionally farmed crops. The results have been published annually in the Practical Farmers of Iowa Newsletter.

In 1997, Klinge reported a net profit on his organic corn of $206.72/acre, versus $29.05/acre on his conventional corn. In 2003, the net profit on his organic corn was $147.13/acre, versus $13.94/acre on his brother’s conventional corn. Weather conditions in different seasons would cause a fluctuation in price per acre. In that same year, his soybean crops yielded a net profit of $96.94/acre for organic, versus a net loss of $53.34/acre for conventional.