Comparison of organic and conventional crop yields in Austria

Martin Brückler; Thomas Resl; Andreas Reindl

Open Access

Comparison of organic and conventional crop yields in Austria

Martin Brückler

Thomas Resl

and

Andreas Reindl

| Mar 09, 2018

Die Bodenkultur: Journal of Land Management, Food and Environment

Volume 68 (2017): Issue 4 (December 2017)

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Cite

Published Online: Mar 09, 2018

Page range: 223 - 236

Received: Nov 11, 2017

Accepted: Jan 11, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/boku-2017-0018

Keywords
organic farming, conventional farming, crop yields, accountancy data, yield gaps

© 2017 Martin Brückler, Thomas Resl, Andreas Reindl

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

The eight major agricultural production areas in Austria (Wagner, 2016)Abbildung 1. Die acht landwirtschaftlichen Hauptproduktionsgebiete in Österreich (Wagner, 2016)

Climatic agricultural areas in Austria (own illustration, 2017)Abbildung 2. Landwirtschaftliche Klimagebiete in Österreich (eigene Darstellung, 2017)

Organic and conventional yield ratios and yield ranges per respective crop species from 2003-2016 for AustriaAbbildung 3. Biologische und konventionelle Mengenverhältnisse und Ertragsspannen pro Feldfrucht von 2003’2016 für Österreich

Relative yields organic vs. conventional, nationwide and climatic agricultural areas, 2003–2016Abbildung 4. Relative Erträge biologisch vs. konventionell, bundesweit und auf landwirtschaftliche Klimagebietsebene, 2003–2016

Average weighted crop yields per major agricultural production area (2003–2016)Anhang 2. Mittlere gewichtete Erträge pro landwirtschaftlichem Hauptproduktionsgebiet (2003–2016)

		Hochalpen			Voralpen			Alpenostrand			Wald- and Mühlviertel			Kärntner Becken			Alpenvorland			Südöstliches Flach- and Hügelland			Nordöstliches Flach- and Hügelland

		Org	Conv	Rel. Relative yields organic to conventional	Org	Conv	Rel. Relative yields organic to conventional	Org	Conv	Rel. Relative yields organic to conventional	Org	Conv	Rel. Relative yields organic to conventional	Org	Conv	Rel. Relative yields organic to conventional	Org	Conv	Rel. Relative yields organic to conventional	Org	Conv	Rel. Relative yields organic to conventional	Org	Conv	Rel. Relative yields organic to conventional
Common wheat	dt/ha	36.1	46.0	78%		45.6		27.9	49.2	57%	38.2	53.1	72%	32.0	56.0	57%	35.2	66.6	53%	31.9	56.8	56%	35.0	49.6	71%
	n	33	72			102		145	831		319	831		35	253		199	4121		143	1092		545	4129

Rye	dt/ha	22.4				31.3		27.8	41.1	68%	27.5	41.4	66%	22.2	62.8	35%	25.9	48.5	53%	27.4	42.7	64%	25.0	41.4	60%
	n	30				21		230	1442		716	1442		32	52		80	199		57	134		247	687

Winter barley	dt/ha		39.8			44.7		35.1	46.8	75%	36.3	46.4	78%		48.8		36.6	61.0	60%	38.3	53.1	72%	29.4	48.7	60%
	n		48			145		34	980		141	980			371		149	3859		64	962		124	1271

Spring barley	dt/ha	32.2	38.9	83%		31.6		26.6	38.3	69%	27.1	39.3	69%		42.6		27.2	43.3	63%	29.9	40.7	73%	25.5	41.9	61%
	n	84	115			56		72	1626		387	1626			285		33	408		34	408		175	2822

Oat	dt/ha	34.5	32.2	107%		40.4		27.3	31.5	87%	27.3	37.6	73%		42.8		31.9	47.4	67%	17.1	33.2	51%	30.3	36.4	83%
	n	58	55			44		139	1133		557	1133			112		114	1111		45	130		99	177

Triticale	dt/ha	41.4	48.1	86%		48.1		35.0	48.4	72%	35.7	46.3	77%	41.9	52.2	80%	38.3	59.5	64%	42.1	62.1	68%	29.9	40.4	74%
	n	65	41			123		221	1901		662	1901		58	264		179	1371		47	240		181	344

Com	dt/ha							58.3	92.3	63%	71.7	88.8	81%	68.8	103.5	67%	62.0	102.9	60%	63.6	99.9	64%	60.1	82.0	73%
	n							44	158		31	158		37	386		80	2639		52	1552		297	2256

Spelt	dt/ha							22.8	18.8	121%	24.1	37.1	65%	27.5			24.9	45.5	55%	28.7	37.5	77%	26.6	46.2	57%
	n							118	57		318	57		46			128	55		109	44		180	60

Potatoes	dt/ha	207.3	260.6	80%	57.2	150.5	38%	131.2	195.6	67%	180.2	287.3	63%		345.7		105.3	332.4	32%	120.7	364.4	33%	178.0	373.3	48%
	n	441	462		34	54		162	1223		717	1223			216		96	741		42	377		137	944

Field peas	dt/ha								17.7		15.2	17.8	85%		28.9			27.0		15.0	17.0	88%	13.8	23.7	58%
	n								319		169	319			64			390		48	100		229	977

Faba beans	dt/ha								17.9		15.7	22.3	70%				25.4	28.8	88%	21.5	11.4	189%	14.5	16.4	89%
	n								51		97	51					89	265		35	50		101	33

Soybeans	dt/ha								23.8			19.4		19.8	27.7	72%		26.9			26.3		22.3	22.0	101%
	n								35			35		33	262			945			407		143	269

Oil pumpkin	dt/ha								4.8		5.2	5.9	88%				6.2	7.2	85%	3.6	5.6	64%	4.6	6.7	68%
	n								47		63	47					30	95		122	1644		142	280

Average weighted crop yields, nationwide (2003–2016)Anhang 1. Durchschnittliche gewichtete Erträge, bundesweit (2003–2016)

			Austria
		Org	Conv	Rel. Relative yields organic to conventional
Common wheat	dt/ha	35.4	55.1	64%
	n	1,433	10,999

Rye	dt/ha	26.2	43.0	61%
	n	1,405	2,881

Winter barley	dt/ha	33.3	56.4	59%
	n	543	7,990

Spring barley	dt/ha	27.6	41.6	67%
	n	796	6,182

Oat	dt/ha	28.2	41.2	68%
	n	1,046	2,998

Triticale	dt/ha	35.3	51.6	69%
	n	1,422	4,877

Corn	dt/ha	60.4	94.6	64%
	n	554	7,197

Spelt	dt/ha	25.5	34.1	77%
	n	915	246

Potatoes	dt/ha	173.9	341.9	51%
	n	1,652	4,441

Sugar beets yield data of sugar beets only available from 2008–2016	dt/ha	512.8	695.2	73%
	n

Field peas	dt/ha	13.3	23.5	57%
	n	373	2,158

Faba beans no organic data from 2003–2004; ²no conventional data for 2008	dt/ha	16.4	26.8	71%
	n	513	1,926

Soybeans	dt/ha	22.3	25.7	93%
	n	348	419

Oil pumpkin	dt/ha	4.3	5.7	78%
	n	250	1,976

Organic crop yields per hectare compared to conventional crop yields per hectare based on weighted average crop yields during the period 2003–2016, national levelTabelle 1. Bio-Erträge pro Hektar im Vergleich mit konventionellen Erträgen pro Hektar basierend auf gewichteten Erträgen in der Periode 2003–2016, bundesweit

	Relative yield organic vs. conventional (%)	Standard deviation of organic national yield (±%) unbalanced panel	n^o	n^c
Cereals
Common wheat	64.2	33.8	1,433	10,999
Rye	61.3	46.7	1,405	2,881
Winter barley	58.9	39.1	543	7,990
Spring barley	66.5	45.7	796	6,182
Oat	68.4	44.6	1,046	2,998
Triticale	68.5	36.2	1,422	4,877
Corn	63.7	40.1	554	7,197
Spelt	77.4	40.4	915	246
Root and tuber crops
Potatoes	50.9	50.7	1,652	4,441
Sugar beets yield data of sugar beets only available from 2008–2016	72.6
Oilseed and protein crops
Oil pumpkin	78.2	43.2	373	2,158
Field peas	56.6	58.1	513	1,926
Faba beans no organic data from 2003–2004 and no conventional data for 2008	70.8	60.3	348	419
Soybeans	93.4	42.6	250	1,976

Average weighted crop yields per climatic agricultural area (2003–2016)Anhang 3. Mittlere gewichtete Erträge pro landwirtschaftlichem Klimagebiet (2003–2016)

			Humid		Occasionally dry			Dry
		Org	Conv	Rel. Relative yields organic vs. conventional	^Org	Conv	Rel. Relative yields organic vs. conventional	^Org	Conv	Rel. Relative yields organic vs. conventional
Common wheat	dt/ha	35.4	65.1	54%	33.9	58.4	58%	36.4	49.7	73%
	n	156	1999		809	5924		450	3063

Rye	dt/ha	31.6	45.9	69%	25.8	44.1	58%	26.4	40.7	65%
	n	182	368		1019	1945		191	558

Winter barley	dt/ha	37.6	58.5	64%	34.8	57.3	61%	32.2	49.8	65%
	n	117	2214		339	4947		87	820

Spring barley	dt/ha	26.9	39.9	67%	27.8	40.4	69%	26.6	42.6	62%
	n	90	672		544	3121		154	2384

Oat	dt/ha	26.3	44.2	60%	28.1	41.7	67%	30.0	33.8	89%
	n	172	936		805	1971		67	90

Triticale	dt/ha	38.8	56.0	69%	36.4	51.2	71%	31.0	46.8	66%
	n	277	1359		997	3287		143	221

Corn	dt/ha	60.9	100.0	61%	64.1	97.8	66%	58.6	78.1	75%
	n	42	1042		249	4611		254	1529

Spelt	dt/ha	21.7	25.6	85%	23.9	41.1	58%	27.5	39.8	69%
	n	90	54		637	138		184	54

Potatoes	dt/ha	165.1	289.7	57%	175.6	339.6	52%	188.4	357.4	53%
	n	484	1206		1051	2498		113	733

Field peas	dt/ha		26.7		14.2	22.5	63%	13.4	25.3	53%
	n		228		282	942		206	755

Faba beans	dt/ha	23.4	30.2	78%	18.5	24.7	75%	13.3
	n	35	149		226	247		78

Soybeans	dt/ha		26.4		20.7	26.5	78%	24.5	22.4	109%
	n		396		136	1438		107	140

Oil pumpkin	dt/ha				4.5	5.7	79%	4.7	6.1	76%
	n				203	1883		162	251

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Comparison of organic and conventional crop yields in Austria

Article Category: Research Article

Published Online: Mar 09, 2018

Page range: 223 - 236

Received: Nov 11, 2017

Accepted: Jan 11, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/boku-2017-0018

Keywords
organic farming, conventional farming, crop yields, accountancy data, yield gaps

© 2017 Martin Brückler, Thomas Resl, Andreas Reindl

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Average weighted crop yields per major agricultural production area (2003–2016)Anhang 2. Mittlere gewichtete Erträge pro landwirtschaftlichem Hauptproduktionsgebiet (2003–2016)

Average weighted crop yields, nationwide (2003–2016)Anhang 1. Durchschnittliche gewichtete Erträge, bundesweit (2003–2016)

Average weighted crop yields per climatic agricultural area (2003–2016)Anhang 3. Mittlere gewichtete Erträge pro landwirtschaftlichem Klimagebiet (2003–2016)

Comparison of organic and conventional crop yields in Austria

Article Category: Research Article

Published Online: Mar 09, 2018

Page range: 223 - 236

Received: Nov 11, 2017

Accepted: Jan 11, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/boku-2017-0018

Keywordsorganic farming, conventional farming, crop yields, accountancy data, yield gaps

© 2017 Martin Brückler, Thomas Resl, Andreas Reindl

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Average weighted crop yields per major agricultural production area (2003–2016)Anhang 2. Mittlere gewichtete Erträge pro landwirtschaftlichem Hauptproduktionsgebiet (2003–2016)

Average weighted crop yields, nationwide (2003–2016)Anhang 1. Durchschnittliche gewichtete Erträge, bundesweit (2003–2016)

Average weighted crop yields per climatic agricultural area (2003–2016)Anhang 3. Mittlere gewichtete Erträge pro landwirtschaftlichem Klimagebiet (2003–2016)

Keywords
organic farming, conventional farming, crop yields, accountancy data, yield gaps