Costs of and income from ecological farming

Urfi, Péter – Kormosné Koch, Krisztina

Keywords: ecological farming, costs and income

The costs of and income from ecological farming in comparison with traditional farming was examined on the basis of model calculations. The data used for building the model were collected from farmers working in the Hortobágy region. No significant differences were found in terms of the per hectare cost of the two farming methods. There were very visible differences in the cost structure, however, which is explained by the differences between the technologies used. In ecological crop farming, yields tended to be lower, while production cost and sale prices were higher. Neither farming approach was found to be viable without subsidies. The variation in gross income, however, was due primarily to differences in yield and sale prices rather than to the subsidies. In most versions of the model, ecological farming was more profitable, but - in line with the trends described in the relevant literature - the underlying ‘eco premium is not sufficient for achieving a higher income every year. As the price advantage of ecological farming is declining, the level of income from this farming methodology will in the close future be determined more by balanced yields and by reducing the difference in yields as compared to traditional farming.

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