This thesis focused on the conversion period from conventional to organic agriculture for a Quebec dairy farm. The crucial problem resided in developing an economic framework to evaluate alternative crop rotations that would provide farmers in transition an optimal rotation plan compatible with organic farming practices. / Two multi-period linear programming models were developed for that purpose, both models having different assumptions concerning effects that the transition might have on crop yield. / In both transitional models, two crop rotations were selected in the optimal solution. In addition, the establishment of crop rotations was comparable for both models, and this showed that the assumed drop in yield did not have a large impact on the selection of crop rotation. Also, the results support the notion that conversion to organic agriculture had a relatively less negative effect on farm profit if the transition was done gradually.

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