Pacific Northwest Conservation Tillage Handbook Series No. 20
Chapter 10 - New Technology Access, Adaptation and Economics, November 2005
Examining the Sources of Difference in Profitability and Costs for Conservation and Conventional Tillage in Eastern Washington
Authors: Raphael N. Karuaihe, Douglas L.Young, H. Holly Wang, and Herbert R. Hinman
The authors are former Graduate Research Assistant, Professor, Associate Professor, and Extension Specialist in the School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University.
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Abstract
This study compares the profitability and costs of long term direct seeding (DS) farmers in three eastern Washington precipitation zones to the economic performance of conventional tillage (CVT) systems in the same zones. A dozen long-term DS growers from three agro-climatic zones were surveyed in depth to determine their cost of production, yields, and profit. The DS farmers’ results were compared to those for benchmark Extension Service CVT budgets representative of these regions. In the high precipitation region, average yields, revenues, and profit were always significantly higher for the sample of long term DS growers compared to the CVT benchmarks, with the exception of spring barley yields. Cost patterns for DS and CVT in this region also followed expectations. The good economic performance of these long term DS farmers provides promise for DS in the high precipitation region. Statistical comparisons of DS and CVT in the intermediate and dry regions were less definitive. It was usually not possible to show statistically significantly higher yields or profits for DS, but point estimates were usually quite close for DS and CVT in these regions. Most DS costs and total revenues were generally higher because long term DS farmers often intensified cropping intensity by reducing fallow compared to CVT. These survey results show that DS’s economic advantage decreases as annual average precipitation decreases, but even in the intermediate and dry regions DS average profit was close to that for CVT. These survey results show economic potential for DS and support further research and farmer experience to refine this environmentally promising technology in the Pacific Northwest. Future research should monitor economic performance of DS and CVT as technology and economic conditions change through time.
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