ISU experiment shows organic farming is profitable Organic crop
systems can provide similar yields and much higher economic
returns than a conventional corn-soybean rotation, according to
13 years of data from a side-by-side comparison at Iowa State
University’s Neely-Kinyon Research and Demonstration Farm. The
Long-Term Agroecological Research Experiment (LTAR) began in
1998 with support from the Leopold Center for Sustainable
Agriculture. The LTAR is one of the longest running replicated
comparisons in the country. Kathleen Delate, professor in ISU
Agronomy and Horticulture, leads the project. “The transitioning
years are the hardest years,” Delate said, explaining that the
project was originally designed to help farmers make the shift
into an organic system. To sell a product as organic, the crop
must be raised on land that has received no synthetic chemicals
for three years prior to harvest. The LTAR experiment shows that
organic crops can remain competitive with conventional crops
even during the three-y