Agronomic and Economic Analyses of Alternative Small Grain/Row Crop Production Systems for the Northern Plains

Agronomic and Economic Analyses of Alternative Small Grain/Row Crop Production Systems for the Northern Plains

Summary

Overview, Continuation
This study will complete agronomic and economic analyses of alternative (low input/sustainable), conventional, and reduced-till farming systems, and will place a major emphasis on the longer-term, post-transition effects following adoption of alternative systems. The study is part of a long-term multi-disciplinary investigation of farming systems initiated in 1984 by South Dakota State University. A primary impetus for this study was individual farmers and groups of farmers, and their active involvement in the research has continued. The overall objective of this effort is to compare the agronomic and economic sustainability of the various systems. The alternative systems are legume-based, and use primarily on-farm resources to meet crop nutrient needs and to control pests. The conventional and reduced-till systems received recommended inputs of fertilizer and pesticides. This study includes both on-farm and experiment station components. The study began as an on-farm study in 1984 and, in part because of questions arising from both farmers and researchers, was enlarged in 1985 to include experiment station trials.

Agronomic data on yields and cultural practices from both the on-farm and the experiment station study components are incorporated in whole-farm economic models by agricultural economicals on the research team. This study will also compare machinery utilization and costs for alternative and more conventional systems. Also included in analyses are measurements of inputs, yields, soil physical properties, earthworms, nematodes, mycorrhizae, weeds, soil microbes, and disease suppressiveness.

When this project in completed, eight years of agronomic and economic data will have been compiled and analyzed for two "operation" and sic "simulated" whole farms. The analyses will have covered five "transition" years (1985-1989) and three "post-transition" years (1989-92). Farmers, researchers, extension educators, and policy makers will have a much better understanding of the potential long-term agronomic, economic, and environmental sustainability of different farming systems in the Northern Plains’ agroclimatic region where corn-soybean row crops and small grains (predominantly wheat) overlap. Some of the results will provide a basis for focusing and designing the next phase of sustainable agriculture research in the Northern Plains.