Economic Impact Analysis of Mixed-Species Green Manure on Organic Tomato: Evidence from the Northeastern United States

With shifting preferences of consumers towards healthier food, organic food demand has been on the rise for the past two decades. This increased demand has created an opportunity for farmers to shift from conventional to organic production. However, there are risks and uncertainties associated with organic farming. The management of an organic farm in the absence of organic-based disease and pest suppressing strategies constrains farmers from adopting organic vegetable production. The use of cover crops to control soil-borne diseases and suppress weeds and other pests has increased because of its sustainable and environmental friendly nature. This study of the economic impact of the cover crops on organic tomato production in the three states Ohio, New York, and Maryland showed mixed results. In Maryland, mixed forage radish and hairy vetch was projected to have a net present value over 15 years that was $1.53 million higher than single species hairy vetch, assuming maximum adoption level of 50 percent. In New York, mixed rye and turnip gave the higher return with a net present value of $2.61 million. In Ohio, the highest projected return was from mixed hay compared to hairy vetch with a net present value of $3.12 million when used without adding compost amendments. In Maryland and New York when bare ground was also used as a control, only mixed forage radish and hairy vetch in Maryland produced better returns compared to bare ground. A probit regression assessing the factors affecting the decision to adopt mixed species green manure technology indicated that farmer experiences in organic production, farmer age, access to the internet access, and farmers’ perceptions about the benefits of using mixed species green manures were significant factors. Each variables and factors except age had a positive influence. Similarly, probit results for microbial inoculants indicated that education, gender, and access to the internet were significant determinants, and had a negative effect on the probability of adoption. Access to the internet was significant for both mixed species green manures and microbial inoculants but with opposite sign, positive for mixed species green manures and negative for microbial inoculants. iii Acknowledgements I am indebted to all the faculty members who provided me with technical and nontechnical knowledge and insights during my Masters Program. I would like to extend my sincerest thanks to advisor Dr. George Norton for giving me an opportunity to work on this project. I thank him for his patience and for countless edits, revisions, and suggestions including a close mentoring to give final shape to my work. He was always there to help. I also would like thank Dr. Chris Parmeter for helping me with the econometrics and other valuable insights. My sincere thanks also goes to Dr. Darrell Bosch for providing me appropriate support in research design as needed. I would like to extend my special thanks to the Ohio State University for providing collaboration and USDA Organic Research and Extension Initiative for research funding. My sincere thanks goes to all the scientists and project staff without whose timely and welcoming efforts, this work would not have been possible. My special appreciation goes to Dr. Sally Miller for her coordination and communication with the project team members. Dr. Brian McSpadden Gardener deserves my gratitude for his quick and clear responses on my questions. I extend my gratitude to Dr. Kathryne L. Everts for providing the required project related information from Maryland and other valuable insights in timely manner. In addition, Dr. Chris Smart deserves my thanks for providing project related information from New York with other valuable suggestions. I would also like to thank Dr, Fulya Baysal Gural for her help and support from the very beginning and helping me during my stay in Ohio. Thanks to Dr. Sunjeong Park who helped with compiling and providing project related data from Ohio. I would like to extend my thanks to Dr. Nabin Baral and Ranju Baral for encouragement and support to get into the program, and helping me through the factor analysis process and other valuable insights. I also would like to thank Virginia Tech Extension Services for providing information from extension agents and other valuables information. Thanks to the information center at USDA for providing valuable state data and other facts. My sincere thanks to all the farmers for their completing mail surveys during their busy schedules.