Abstract
Field trials were conducted in Minnesota and Wisconsin during 2022–2023 to evaluate production costs and net returns associated with a soil biodegradable paper mulch compared to three polyethylene (PE) plastic mulches in an organic day-neutral (DN) strawberry system. Assessing the economic viability of soil biodegradable mulch is critical for organic growers who may need to transition away from PE plastic mulches to comply with USDA-AMS National Organic Program (NOP) standards. To date, no published research has directly compared the economic performance of NOP-compliant biodegradable paper mulch in organic strawberry production. Our results indicate that while the paper mulch incurred higher initial costs and required more labor for weather-related maintenance, it yielded positive net returns when DN strawberries were marketed through direct-to-consumer channels at premium prices. Despite being the least profitable option overall, the biodegradable paper mulch represents an economically viable alternative to PE mulches under certain market conditions and offers promise for future NOP-compliant organic production systems.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed cc-by-nc-nd. Read at the source ↗
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Claims 5
Claim · model-written summary
The biodegradable paper mulch incurred higher initial costs than the polyethylene mulches in strawberry.
- Taxon
- strawberry
_single2.jpg?width=60)
Fragaria ×ananassae1 - Treatment
- soil biodegradable paper mulche1
- Outcome
- initial costse2
- Direction
- highere2
- Comparator
- polyethylene (PE) plastic mulchese1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
_single2.jpg?width=500)
Verbatim
e1“Field trials were conducted in Minnesota and Wisconsin during 2022–2023 to evaluate production costs and net returns associated with a soil biodegradable paper mulch compared to three polyethylene (PE) plastic mulches in an organic day-neutral (DN) strawberry system”
e2“while the paper mulch incurred higher initial costs and required more labor for weather-related maintenance”
Claim · model-written summary
The biodegradable paper mulch required more labor for weather-related maintenance than the polyethylene mulches in strawberry.
- Taxon
- strawberryFragaria ×ananassae1
- Treatment
- soil biodegradable paper mulche1
- Outcome
- labor for weather-related maintenancee2
- Direction
- moree2
- Comparator
- polyethylene (PE) plastic mulchese1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Field trials were conducted in Minnesota and Wisconsin during 2022–2023 to evaluate production costs and net returns associated with a soil biodegradable paper mulch compared to three polyethylene (PE) plastic mulches in an organic day-neutral (DN) strawberry system”
e2“while the paper mulch incurred higher initial costs and required more labor for weather-related maintenance”
Claim · model-written summary
Day-neutral strawberries marketed through direct-to-consumer channels at premium prices yielded positive net returns for the biodegradable paper mulch.
- Taxon
- strawberriesFragaria ×ananassae3
- Treatment
- direct-to-consumer channels at premium pricese3
- Outcome
- net returnse3
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e3“it yielded positive net returns when DN strawberries were marketed through direct-to-consumer channels at premium prices”
Claim · model-written summary
The biodegradable paper mulch was the least profitable option overall compared with the PE mulches.
- Taxon
- strawberryFragaria ×ananassae1
- Treatment
- biodegradable paper mulche4
- Outcome
- least profitable option overalle4
- Direction
- leaste4
- Comparator
- PE mulchese4
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Field trials were conducted in Minnesota and Wisconsin during 2022–2023 to evaluate production costs and net returns associated with a soil biodegradable paper mulch compared to three polyethylene (PE) plastic mulches in an organic day-neutral (DN) strawberry system”
e4“Despite being the least profitable option overall, the biodegradable paper mulch represents an economically viable alternative to PE mulches under certain market conditions”
Claim · model-written summary
The biodegradable paper mulch is an economically viable alternative to PE mulches under certain market conditions.
- Taxon
- strawberryFragaria ×ananassae1
- Outcome
- economically viable alternative to PE mulches under certain market conditionse4
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Field trials were conducted in Minnesota and Wisconsin during 2022–2023 to evaluate production costs and net returns associated with a soil biodegradable paper mulch compared to three polyethylene (PE) plastic mulches in an organic day-neutral (DN) strawberry system”
e4“Despite being the least profitable option overall, the biodegradable paper mulch represents an economically viable alternative to PE mulches under certain market conditions”
The same questions in other papers
mulching · yield · Fragaria x ananassa (strawberry)Results differ
18 papers in the same direction as this paper · 78 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
93 papers more in this group
See all 97 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.