According to the Agriculture Department, 40 percent of U.S. organic producers also sold
non-organic goods in 2012, suggesting that many of America's organic operations hedge
their bets with conventional -- and even genetically modified -- crops.
Gregory Jaffe, Center for Science in the Public Interest: "Farmers aren't necessarily distinct
groups.
There are farmers out there who are both organic farmers and conventional farmers or both organic
farmers and biotech farmers at the same time."
Some organic purists are critical of the so-called split farming operations, fearing that the
cross-pollination or intermingling of genetically engineered crops with their products could
hamper organic sales.
But farmers who embrace organic production and methods relying on biotechnology say they're
able to make informed decisions each year based on both economic and environmental concerns.
Jim Petersen, Petersen Family Farms: "I think there's a benefit because it helps with our
risk.
Because we had a few years that were so wet, we couldn't get out there and do proper weed
control in our organics, but we had other crops that we could spray and maintain them
and so they were still good even though the organics weren't so good, and I that has helped
to have the more diversity.
We are very diverse."
Jim Petersen, his wife, Julie, and their four children farm near Knoxville, Iowa.
The Petersens grow about 450 acres of soybeans: a quarter being organic.
Roughly one third of their 350 acres of corn also is organic, as are most of the farm's
hay, oats and rye crops.
To further diversify, the family also owns 300 head of cattle and 800 ewes, but the Petersens
say they have not yet found the transition to certified organic livestock to be practical.
Jim Petersen, Petersen Family Farms: "When we started it, everybody kind of wanted organic
soybeans, but the organic corn didn't have as much of a premium so we thought, well,
we could feed it to the calves.
Well, that year we started with the calves, there was a demand for the organic corn and
so there was a good premium so we just decided to just go ahead and cash in instead of feeding
it to our own."
Since certifying organic land is a lengthy process, Petersen evaluates soil quality and
terrain to determine which land is optimal to transition to organic.
Jim Petersen, Petersen Family Farms: "I've seen in our area that, with some of the hillier
ground and the thinner that I'm not going to do organic on it or very rarely would I
do organic on it because it needs to be treated differently.
It needs the fertilizer fed to it at a higher rate than I can do with my organic, and the
tillage I don't like to do it out on those hills as much either because of the soil loss
possibility."
Jim Gaffney, DuPont Pioneer: "It is quite possible to do both on the same farm.
The split operation is very reasonable.
And there's nothing to say that it can't work well on the same farm."
The Petersens own 550 acres and rent another 2,000 for pasture and crops.
They try to respect the preferences of landlords when making decisions related to planting,
and that can be challenging.
Some landlords refuse to allow genetically modified crops on their acres, while others
are adverse to increased weeds that often accompany organic production.
And for Petersen, switching rented land from conventional to organic is risky.
Jim Petersen, Petersen Family Farms: "A lot of the land we farm is rented, and we only
have one-year contracts with the landlords and so it takes 36 months to get the transition
to have it being organic, so we don't want to take the time to being doing that and then
lose the farm in the process."
Petersen acknowledges that organic production is labor intensive.
He spends extra time cleaning equipment to remove residue from prior crops, and he also
cultivates two or three times each growing season to minimize weed pressure.
But he says the premium he receives for organic products justifies increased investments of
time, labor and money.
Still, he's unwilling -- so far -- to give up genetically engineered crops that require
less work and enable him to spread his financial risk over multiple methods of production.
Jim Petersen, Petersen Family Farms: "There are some certifying agencies that say if you
are doing organic, you can't do the GMO crops .... My feeling has been that if you can plant
a crop that will take less chemicals to control weeds, then that's a good thing because I
think the chemicals will do more harm than the GMO crop, myself."
Jim Gaffney, DuPont Pioneer: 00;44;23;28 It takes different management skills to have
both on the same farm.
You really have to think hard about how you're going to operate your farm.
So the management is probably a higher level.
But it's a management decision.
It's not a cultural or a social or religious decision, let's put it that way.
For Market to Market, I'm Paul Yeager.