INITIAL TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC COMPARISONS OF DIFFERENT FARMING SYSTEMS IN ONTARIO, CANADA

Three different farming systems for Ontario, Canada were compared from technical and economic standpoints. The conventional system farms rel ied upon government-prescribe rates of synthetic herbicides for weed m anagement. Reduced-input system farms used crop rotations and tillage systems as partial substitutes for synthetic herbicide inputs. Organic system farms proscribed the use of synthetic herbicide treatments ent irely, relying instead on crop choices and sequences, tillage methods, animal manure composting, and other management tools for weed control . All farm types had similar natural resource endowments, but conventi onal farms were the most specialized and operated the largest land bas e, while organic farms were the most diversified and smallest. Organic farmers expended the most time, effort and operating capital in contr olling weeds, despite the lack of any expenditures on synthetic herbic ides. However, organic farmers spent the least on seeds, overall labou r and overall machinery operating (fuels, lubricants, repairs) costs f or crop production, and spent nothing on synthetic fertilizers or pest icides. Total direct production costs for crops were least for organic farmers. Crop yield comparisons were equivocal, being highest for mai ze and fall cereals on reduced-input farms, and highest for beans but lowest for autumn cereals on organic farms. Organic farms received the highest unit market prices for all three crop types. Gross margins (g ross revenues less total direct production costs) per hectare were hig hest for organic farms for all three crops, and lowest for conventiona l farms. When livestock and associated feed crop enterprises, plus cas h crop enterprises other than maize, beans and autumn cereals, were in cluded, total gross farm incomes were highest, on average, for convent ional farms, being slightly ahead of those for organic farms. Farm bus iness overheads were by far the lowest on organic farms and highest on conventional farms. This changed the rankings for total net farm inco mes, which were highest for reduced-input farms, and lowest on convent ional farms.