Deciding what organic products to grow and how to price them is difficult, particularly when markets often are not well established. This publication discusses how to adapt enterprise budgets to organic crops in order to better ensure a producer earns a profit from their crop.
Resources Category: Organic Farm Business Management
Enhance your farm’s profitability with resources on organic farm business management. Learn about financial planning, marketing strategies, and regulatory compliance tailored for organic operations.
Organic Budget Workbook
Organic Crop Production Enterprise Budgets
An enterprise budget is an estimate of the costs and returns to produce a product. This publication looks at enterprise budgets for organic growers, reflecting a four-year rotation using corn, soybeans, oats with alfalfa and a second year of alfalfa
Evaluating Organic Transitions at the Field Level
This publication provides information on making plans to transition to organic crop production. It helps outline the need for a transition crop plan, the importance of individual crop budgets, and evaluating results.
Making the Transition from Conventional to Organic
Farming organically allows producers to incur many economic and social advantages compared to farming conventionally. Understanding and planning the economic returns of the transition process can aid the producer in planning and in becoming organically certified.
Growing Organic Vegetables in Iowa
Organic production and consumption has increased over the past 20 years. Learn how to raise organic vegetables – including strategies for composting, pest management, and disease management.
Iowa State University Extension Fundamentals of Organic Agriculture
Detailed information on organic agriculture including history, legalities and logistics, labeling, marketing, and pest and weed management. Includes two field examples on organic soybean and apple production.
Iowa State University NRCS Organic Training
Iowa State University-USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Organic Training at Reiman Gardens on the ISU campus, Fall 2023.
Cover Crop Economics
Based primarily on yield and economic data gathered through five years of national cover crop surveys, Cover Crop Economics: Opportunities to Improve Your Bottom Line in Row Crops addresses the kinds of economic returns that can be expected from cover crops, both under various management scenarios and as cover crops improve soil health over time.… Continue reading Cover Crop Economics
Organic Transition: A Business Planner for Farmers, Ranchers, and Food Entrepreneurs
If you are interested in transitioning, Organic Transition: A Business Planner for Farmers, Ranchers and Food Entrepreneurs is the perfect tool to help. The Organic Transition Planner will walk you through the development of an actionable business transition plan that is suitable for yourself, your management team or a lender. While not a comprehensive guide… Continue reading Organic Transition: A Business Planner for Farmers, Ranchers, and Food Entrepreneurs