A Regional Profitability Analysis of Field Crop Production in Texas PDF Download

Author:
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ISBN:
Category : Field crops
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. Subcommittee on Agricultural Production and Stabilization of Prices
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agricultural laws and legislation
Languages : en
Pages : 794

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Author: MariKate Crouch
Publisher:
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Category : Crops and water
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Water is a vital resource for agricultural crop production in the Texas Panhandle and greater Texas High Plains Area. This semi-arid region relies almost solely on the Ogallala Aquifer as the primary source of water. Three studies were conducted to evaluated producer profitability, water management strategies, and producers' attitudes towards water conservation for the region. Study one focuses on the top 26 counties, known as the Texas Panhandle. Producers in the area are evaluating new strategies to diversify their operations. Vegetable and vegetable seed production are examined for potential impacts on producers' profitability. Analyzing the feasibility of specialty high-value crops will allow producers to make informed decision regarding the addition of vegetables and vegetable seed to their operations. Yields, costs, and revenue from high tunnel productions systems are compared to the standard open field systems. The study suggests high tunnels produce higher yields, but require a higher initial investment cost. With the support of the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service's High Tunnel Initiative program, producers can decrease their initial investment costs to increase overall profit. Agricultural production dominates water use in the area and is projected to account for 92 percent of total water use by 2020. Since agriculture is such an essential sector of the regional economy, prolonging irrigation capability through improvements in crop production methods is warranted. The area of concern and evaluation in study two consists of Texas' northernmost 21 counties where groundwater withdrawal rates continue to exceed the aquifer's recharge rate, resulting in less available irrigation resources. Within the region, seven counties in the Panhandle Water Planning Area of Texas are projected to incur water shortages in the 2020-2070 planning horizon. A regional analysis evaluating several agricultural water conservation strategies and combinations to address the decline of water use in the region is presented. The analysis examines potential water savings and implementation costs associated with the alternative strategies to provide useful information to stakeholders such as producers, groundwater conservation districts, and regional water planning groups. Study number three evaluates the counties within the greater Texas High Plains. Twenty producers were surveyed to obtain information on their water conservation management practices and attitude towards such efforts. Results indicated producers are implementing multiple irrigation technologies and management practices. Respondents were all concerned with the future water availability in the area. This study provided researchers feedback to reassess the survey for future studies.

Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Agriculture
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agricultural laws and legislation
Languages : en
Pages : 1350

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Author: Mandi Lynn Boychuk
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Cash crops
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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In the Ogallala Aquifer, the Texas High Plains' primary water source, withdrawals continue to exceed the aquifer's limited recharge. Producers are compensating with water-conserving production techniques such as transitioning to more efficient irrigation technology, implementing conservation tillage practices, reducing the amount of irrigation applied, and alternating the crops they plant. Given the current condition of the semi-arid region, alternative production methods are necessary to enhance farm profitability. One alternative being considered by producers is the production of high-value crops. High-value crops, including vegetables, can increase overall producer profitability. Initial project experiments have demonstrated the potential for viable vegetable production; however, no studies exist to prove the economic viability of these crops in the Texas High Plains. This study analyzes the economic feasibility of producing high-value vegetables so producers may make an informed decision regarding the incorporation of vegetable production into their existing operation. This information will benefit not only producers faced with declining water availability but also small landowners considering more productive uses of their land. Tomatoes, jalapeño peppers, and sweet corn were produced in an open field at the USDA-ARS CPRL/Texas A&M AgriLife Vegetable Production Lab in Bushland, Texas using surface drip irrigation both with and without the use of black plastic mulch. Field production data including water use, labor hours, input costs, and yields were collected through personal communication with research faculty. Additional data were collected from the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension crop budgets, the United States Department of Agriculture's Agriculture Marketing Service, the United States Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service, and a review of existing vegetable production literature. These data were compiled to create enterprise budgets including revenue, variable costs, fixed costs, and total profit for each vegetable with mulch and without mulch under surface drip irrigation, on a per-acre basis. Economic data for traditionally irrigated corn, cotton, and wheat were obtained from the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension crop budgets. Several economic measures, including return on investment, profit per acre-inch of irrigation water applied, and breakeven prices were analyzed to provide producers with the information needed to make decisions. In addition, sensitivity analyses were conducted to evaluate how changes in crop prices and labor hours would affect producer profit. An online survey was distributed to producers implementing vegetable production within the study region to identify current management practices. Innovative production systems such as high tunnel systems and greenhouses offer several benefits to these producers, specifically protection from the harsh environment. Additionally, survey respondents provided information regarding higher revenue possibilities that exist through other marketing outlets including farmer's markets, local grocery stores, and restaurants. Implementing vegetable production in an existing enterprise is an alternative that can help increase or maintain overall producer profits, especially for producers faced with declining water availability. Despite the high investment and high labor costs, the results indicate vegetable production in the Texas High Plains has great profit potential. It is important to note that conservative estimates of revenue were utilized in this study. In addition, because specialty crops are not eligible for Agricultural Risk Loss Coverage, Price Loss Coverage, or Marketing Assistance Loan programs, producers should consider the risk associated with field production and methods to reduce the risk. Further research should be conducted to evaluate the economic feasibility of vegetable production in high tunnel systems and the use of other locally-grown fruits and vegetables to enhance farm profitability.

Author: Alvin Charles Egbert
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Field crops
Languages : en
Pages : 80

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Author: Melvin D. Skold
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ISBN:
Category : Agriculture
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description

Author: Aminun Naher
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agriculture
Languages : en
Pages : 24

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Book Description
The Texas High Plains is one of the most prolific crop-producing areas in the United States. Agriculture plays a vital role in the economy of this region. The agricultural industry in this area faces various challenges: environmental, economic, etc. Due to extreme weather conditions and climate change, crop production in the Texas High plains is facing a great threat. Crop production needs irrigation water. The primary source of irrigation water in this region is the Ogallala Aquifer. The saturated thickness of this aquifer is being depleted day by day, which is a big concern for the irrigation of crop production (Guerrero et al., 2019). A survey of the literature shows that few studies have investigated the cropping pattern for a specific crop based on production amount, but there is no study that broadly investigated the cropping pattern based on harvested acres for this region. So, it is important for policy purposes to investigate the spatiotemporal change of cropping patterns in this region. The main objective of this research is to visualize the historical change of cropping patterns in the Texas High Plains from the standpoint of geographical concentration and spatial autocorrelation. Historical county-level agricultural census data were collected from the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistical Services (NASS) from 1978 to 2017. Exploratory data analysis (EDA) techniques were employed to examine the geographical concentration and the spatial dependence of crop production among nearby locations. Results of temporal changes indicate that harvested acres and the number of farms trend down through the study period. Maps were generated for each variable of interest which shows how much cropland acres have changed over time. The Gini coefficient and the quantiles of size distributions were computed for all variables of interest to analyze the change in geographical distribution. Total harvested cropland acres were nearly uniformly distributed across the 39 counties whereas irrigated harvested cropland acres were concentrated in a smaller number of counties, which is an indication of the change in geographical concentration in the Texas High Plains. Both total and irrigated harvested corn, cotton, sorghum grain, and wheat acreages were concentrated in a smaller number of counties over time while wheat production was mostly concentrated in the northern part of the region. The number of acres harvested for a specific crop relative to the number of total cropland acres show that most counties had more than 50 percent of its harvested cropland as cotton indicating that cotton is the prominent crop in the Texas High Plains. The percentage of acres of irrigated harvested cropland relative to total harvested cropland acreage has decreased over time. The Moran’s I test statistics for both irrigated and non-irrigated cropland areas suggest that there was spatial dependence among the neighboring counties in the production of crops in this region. In summary, there was a spatiotemporal change in cropping patterns in the Texas High Plains over the study period.

Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Agriculture. Subcommittee on Wheat, Soybeans, and Feed Grains
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agricultural credit
Languages : en
Pages : 752

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Author: Gary D. Condra
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agriculture
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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