Comparative Performance of Organic, Conventional, and Integrated Producers in New Zealand

The Agriculture Research Group on Sustainability (ARGOS) monitors a wide ange of environmental, social, economic and management parameters on matched cohorts of organic, conventional and integrated farms in the sheep/beef and kiwifruit sectors. Over six years significant differences have been found in farm costs and revenues between management systems, but few differences have been identified between management systems in “bottom-line” indicators of profitability, and there is greater variability within cohorts than between them. Regrouping of the properties according to farmer typologies does, however, result in the identification of some significant differences in economic outcomes between different “types” of farmers.