If you’re tempted to grow organic hay to latch onto its price premiums, push a pencil carefully, advises Lou Anderson.

“It’s not a good fit for every grower,” says Anderson, a Fairfield, ID, organic hay buyer who also serves as president of the Idaho Organic Feed Growers Association.

“There are a lot of unique challenges to producing this kind of product. You need to assess whether you’re in a position to overcome those challenges and then determine whether it’s economically feasible.”

For Monte Vista, CO, grower John Haws, devoting 120 acres of irrigated ground to organic alfalfa production five years ago was a solid decision. He markets his organic hay through a local broker selling to Texas dairies producing organic milk.

Haws says organic hay comparable to high-quality conventional alfalfa in relative feed value (RFV) and protein has been selling for about $25/ton over conventional alfalfa prices. With an average yield of about 5 tons/acre, the grower figures the premium yields more than $12,000 of additional income on the 120 acres.

“That’s a pretty good deal any way you look at it,” says Haws. “Organic alfalfa is working for me.”

Even so, Haws acknowledges that making organic hay work comes with a steep learning curve. He stumbled early on when he planted fungicide-treated seed on roughly a third of the ground earmarked for organic hay. That set him back three years in getting that part of his acreage into organic production. Under USDA rules, fields must be chemicalfree for at least three years to qualify for organic certification.

Maintaining soil fertility without chemical fertilizers can also be challenging. Phosphorus is his major concern.

“Under the regulations, we are allowed to plow down a rock phosphate,” Haws says. “Finding a source can be difficult and it’s a little more expensive than a commercial fertilizer.”

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