Energy Consumption Pattern of Organic and Conventional Lentil in Iran A Case Study: Kuhdasht County

The aims of this study were to evaluate the energy use in organic and conventional farming of lentil in Kuhdasht county of Iran to investigate the efficiency of energy consumption. Data were collected from 47 organic lentil farms and 39 nonorganic farms by using a face-to-face questionnaire method. The results revealed that total energy consumption and output energy in organic lentil production was less than nonorganic production but energy ratio was higher in organic lentil production with 2.12. Total input energy was 5062 and 6196.5 MJ/ha in organic and nonorganic lentil, respectively. Diesel fuel and seed are the major energy inputs in but farms that diesel fuel mostly consumed in tillage operation. Net energy gain in the nonorganic farms was 6498.1 MJ/ha that was more than organic farms. Renewable energy in the organic farms with 1115.6 MJ/ha (22%) was more than nonorganic farms with 1099.2 MJ/ha (17.7%).