Pesticides Pay--But Only a Little, UC Study Shows

Strawberries treated with pesticides produced 10% more profit than an organic crop in a side-by-side test.

Berries grown by conventional methods at a Central Coast farm had a return of $5,489 per acre, compared to $4,995 when organic methods were used, University of California researchers said.

Labor was more expensive in the organic plot: $9,770 per acre, versus $8,474 for the conventional strawberries--a result of additional weeding and picking time.

But materials cost more on the conventional plot: $13,693 per acre to $10,945 for the organic berries. Soil fumigation, pesticides and fertilizers were used to grow the conventional strawberries.

Production costs, including interest, totaled $23,727 for the conventional plot, $1,591 more than the organic crop.

The conventional field produced 3,652 trays per acre, compared to 2,261 for the organic plot--a difference of 1,391 trays, or 61.5% in favor of conventional farming.

That resulted in a gross value of $29,216 for the conventional crop and $27,132 for the strawberries grown organically. Deducting costs from those figures provided net returns.