An Economic Comparison of Reduced Tillage and No-till Crop Production in Western Kansas with and Without Opportunity Cropping PDF Download
Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download An Economic Comparison of Reduced Tillage and No-till Crop Production in Western Kansas with and Without Opportunity Cropping PDF full book. Access full book title An Economic Comparison of Reduced Tillage and No-till Crop Production in Western Kansas with and Without Opportunity Cropping by Ray P. Smith. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.
Author: Ray P. Smith Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
This thesis analyses the economics of reduced tillage farming compared to no-till on a western Kansas farm using elevated crop residue levels and higher intensity opportunity cropping strategies to overcome obstacles. Farming expenses are from the author's farm. Crop yields and rainfall data come from the Tribune Unit of the KSU-Southwest Research-Extension Center. Price and crop insurance data are from USDA sources on the Internet. Crop enterprise budgets are used to determine per acre expenses, net revenue, and the risks of high cropping intensity no-till (NT), and reduced tillage (RT), eco-fallow and with and without opportunity cropping. Grain sorghum was added to the NT rotation, the RT opportunity cropping and the NT opportunity cropping to potentially increase revenues and compete against perennial grasses. However, grain sorghum revenues for various reasons did not cover average variable costs. Results indicate that NT opportunity cropping can be as or more profitable than RT eco-fallow using corn, however risks and expenses are greater. Over the 10-year study, the NT opportunity cropping averaged $3.97 more net revenue than the RT rotation. The NT rotation averaged $5.40 less net revenue than the RT rotation. The RT opportunity cropping averaged $3.83 less net revenue than the RT rotation. The NT opportunity cropping produced the highest net revenue, followed by the RT rotation. The RT opportunity produced the third highest net revenue and the NT rotation produce the lowest net revenue. The RT rotation showed relatively little risk in the ability to recover variable expenses. These results only apply to this farm and should be extrapolated to other regions only after study and analysis. This case study is not necessary applicable to other farms. However, the ideas and analytical techniques may be used to address similar issues on other farms. This analysis reveals that higher intensity no-till cropping can increase net revenues as long as intensity is decreased when soil moisture at planting is not adequate. This allows farmers to benefit from increases in soil organic matter and decreases in soil erosion from no-till farming.
Author: Ray P. Smith Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
This thesis analyses the economics of reduced tillage farming compared to no-till on a western Kansas farm using elevated crop residue levels and higher intensity opportunity cropping strategies to overcome obstacles. Farming expenses are from the author's farm. Crop yields and rainfall data come from the Tribune Unit of the KSU-Southwest Research-Extension Center. Price and crop insurance data are from USDA sources on the Internet. Crop enterprise budgets are used to determine per acre expenses, net revenue, and the risks of high cropping intensity no-till (NT), and reduced tillage (RT), eco-fallow and with and without opportunity cropping. Grain sorghum was added to the NT rotation, the RT opportunity cropping and the NT opportunity cropping to potentially increase revenues and compete against perennial grasses. However, grain sorghum revenues for various reasons did not cover average variable costs. Results indicate that NT opportunity cropping can be as or more profitable than RT eco-fallow using corn, however risks and expenses are greater. Over the 10-year study, the NT opportunity cropping averaged $3.97 more net revenue than the RT rotation. The NT rotation averaged $5.40 less net revenue than the RT rotation. The RT opportunity cropping averaged $3.83 less net revenue than the RT rotation. The NT opportunity cropping produced the highest net revenue, followed by the RT rotation. The RT opportunity produced the third highest net revenue and the NT rotation produce the lowest net revenue. The RT rotation showed relatively little risk in the ability to recover variable expenses. These results only apply to this farm and should be extrapolated to other regions only after study and analysis. This case study is not necessary applicable to other farms. However, the ideas and analytical techniques may be used to address similar issues on other farms. This analysis reveals that higher intensity no-till cropping can increase net revenues as long as intensity is decreased when soil moisture at planting is not adequate. This allows farmers to benefit from increases in soil organic matter and decreases in soil erosion from no-till farming.
Author: Kevin Broc Arnet Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
Replacing fallow periods with cover crops can provide many benefits including soil quality improvements and reduced nitrogen fertilizer requirements. Field experiments were established near Garden City, KS with winter wheat and fallow phases as main plots, thirteen legume or non-legume cover crops, continuous winter wheat, and fallow as subplots, and cover crop termination method as sub-subplots. Treatments containing triticale had greatest water use efficiency (19.9 kg ha[superscript]-1 mm[superscript]-1) and aboveground biomass (3550 kg ha[superscript]-1), but subsequent winter wheat yields were reduced due to a reduction in volumetric water content. Increased soil residue through greater cover crop biomass resulted in increased precipitation storage efficiency during the fallow period, but water requirements to produce biomass depleted soil moisture more than growing a low biomass crop or fallow. In years of above-average precipitation, low biomass cover crops might be grown with little to no negative effect on subsequent wheat yields. A second field experiment was established near Manhattan, KS with fallow, double crop soybean, and four cover crop treatments planted after wheat harvest in a winter wheat-grain sorghum-soybean no-till cropping system, with five nitrogen treatments applied to the sorghum crop to estimate nitrogen contribution of the cover crops. Greatest above ground biomass production and nitrogen accumulation was observed with sorghum-sudan grass. At the 0 kg ha[superscript]-1 N rate, grain sorghum yields were reduced 1200 kg ha[superscript]-1 following sorghum-sudan grass, while all other cover crop treatments provided a 20-30 kg ha[superscript]-1 N equivalent benefit. Sorghum yields might be reduced following large biomass producing cover crops when nitrogen is limiting, but a small nitrogen benefit might be realized following low C:N ratio cover crops. Cover crop productivity and their subsequent effects on grain sorghum performance were evaluated in field studies established near Manhattan and Hutchinson, KS in 2008 and 2009. Sixteen summer or fall cover crop species were planted in no-tillage winter wheat stubble and evaluated for biomass production, nitrogen concentration, and nitrogen accumulation. Summer annual grass species produced the greatest biomass, 3392 kg ha[superscript]-1 and greater, and legume species accumulated the greatest amounts of nitrogen, averaging 43 kg ha[superscript]-1. Grain sorghum yields were 867 kg ha[superscript]-1 greater following summer cover crops compared to fall cover crops. Cover crops had a significant effect on sorghum performance, with yields 1240 kg ha[superscript]-1 greater following legume cover crops.
Author: Stephen Smith Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ISBN: 0891186190 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 512
Book Description
When humankind began to save seed to plant for the next season, they did so hoping to secure a food supply for the future. With that came the inevitable question: Will it be enough? Scientists today are still asking that question. Our dependence on domesticated cultivated varieties has never been greater, even as increasing populations strain our resource base. This book provides a fascinating snapshot-in-time account of the productivity status of all major U.S. field crops. Each crop has a different story to tell. Plant breeding, biotechnology, and agronomy have shaped these stories. It is imperative that we learn from them to ensure continued productivity. The solution is long-term stewardship and the most effective use of our critical resources—water, soil, genetic resources, and human intellect.
Author: Savanna Crossman Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
Agriculture in Kansas and the Great Plains faces many sustainability challenges. Cover cropping is a practice that can affect sustainability by improving soil health parameters in some environments, but more work is needed in the frame of no-till systems in eastern Kansas. Additionally, cash crop yield is an important consideration for production agriculture, but is only reported in less than one-third of soil health studies. Field experiments were conducted on long-term no-till (>10 years) farms in 2014-2017 near Burlington, Hutchinson, and Valley Falls, Kansas. Sites were selected in partnership with local extension, with typical cropping rotations for the area. The objectives of this study were to (i) determine the impact of cover crops on soil health (ii) quantify biomass of established cover crops (iii) quantify yield impacts of cover crops on cash crop yield by comparing single species cover crop (CS), multiple species cover crop (CM), and no cover crop (NC) treatments. In addition, a tillage (T) treatment was included at the Burlington site. Plots were arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Analysis of the soil property data largely found no consistent treatment effects (alpha = 0.05), though sporadic differences were detected. For example, infiltration significantly differed among treatments at the Burlington site in fall 2016, where the T and NC plots had significantly higher rates than the CS and CM plots, but it did not repeat in the 2017 samplings. The Burlington location was the only site to have differences in soil aggregate properties. The aggregates in the tillage plots were getting smaller over time likely from the mechanical breakdown of annual tillage. A significantly smaller mean weight diameter was observed for T as opposed to the other treatments in spring 2016. In 2015 and 2016 the NC treatment also began to show higher proportions of the 0.25mm WSA and less 4.75mm and 2.00mm WSA than the cover crop plots. Very few significant differences were found in the soil biological or chemical parameters, and those that were found lacked repeatability across years. Significantly higher dissolved organic carbon concentrations were observed in the mixed cover crop treatment at the Burlington location for the fall 2017 sampling time, and pH had sporadic instances of significance as well. In conclusion, during the first three years of this project, cover crops have had minimal short-term effects on soil dynamic properties, or cash crop yield, in long-term no-till in eastern Kansas. These results imply that cover crops are likely not a hindrance nor an enhancement to grain corn or soybean yields in eastern Kansas. Additionally, there may be an opportunity for growers to reduce seed costs by planting a single species cover crop as there was no short-term yield or soil health benefit to planting a multi-species mix.
Author: John Horowitz Publisher: DIANE Publishing ISBN: 1437942164 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 28
Book Description
Most U.S. farmers prepare their soil for seeding and weed and pest control through tillage -- plowing operations that disturb the soil. Tillage practices affect soil carbon, water pollution, and farmers' energy and pesticide use, and therefore data on tillage can be valuable for understanding the practice's role in reaching climate and other environmental goals. In order to help policymakers and other interested parties better understand U.S. tillage practices and, especially, those practices' potential contribution to climate-change efforts, this report showed that approximately 35.5% of U.S. cropland planted to eight major crops, or 88 million acres, had no tillage operations in 2009. Charts and graphs. This is a print on demand report.
Author: Andy Clark Publisher: DIANE Publishing ISBN: 1437903797 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 248
Book Description
Cover crops slow erosion, improve soil, smother weeds, enhance nutrient and moisture availability, help control many pests and bring a host of other benefits to your farm. At the same time, they can reduce costs, increase profits and even create new sources of income. You¿ll reap dividends on your cover crop investments for years, since their benefits accumulate over the long term. This book will help you find which ones are right for you. Captures farmer and other research results from the past ten years. The authors verified the info. from the 2nd ed., added new results and updated farmer profiles and research data, and added 2 chap. Includes maps and charts, detailed narratives about individual cover crop species, and chap. about aspects of cover cropping.
Author: Publisher: ISBN: Category : Agriculture Languages : en Pages : 1348
Book Description
Includes abstracts of the annual meetings of the American Society of Agronomy; Soil Science Society of America; Crop Science Society of America ( - of its Agronomic Education Division).
Author: Ray P. Smith
Author: Ray P. Smith
Author: Steve L. Watson
Author: 
Author: Kevin Broc Arnet
Author: Stephen Smith
Author: Savanna Crossman
Author: John Horowitz
Author: Andy Clark
Author: Richard M. Klemme
Author: