Land Suitability Evaluation for Organic Agriculture: A Case Study in the US

Organic agriculture has conspicuous advantages from the perspective of sustainable development, though its lower productivity compared to conventional agriculture is still a major issue. To increase the productivity and economic benefits of organic farming, it is essential to evaluate land suitability for the production of various organic crops. Agricultural land suitability evaluation utilizes multi-criteria analysis, spatial data analytics, and other analytical methodologies to find suitable locations for agricultural practices. In this study, first, the widely used agricultural land suitability evaluation methods including limitation, parametric, and Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) methods are critically reviewed and then, as a case study, an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) coupled with Geographic Information System (GIS) is developed to examine land suitability for the organic cultivation of rain-fed wheat in Duplin County, North Carolina. Several climatic, soil, and topographic criteria are organized in a hierarchy structure, weighted by AHP, and spatially analyzed by GIS to explore the most suitable agricultural lands. The results show that 16.11 and 82.47% of Duplin County’s agricultural lands are, respectively, highly and moderately suitable for the organic production of rain-fed wheat. The land suitability evaluation method developed in this study can be effectively applied for the production of other crops in different regions.