Using agricultural professionals' forecasts of future farmland values and corn and soybean cash prices for their service area, we analyze whether their land and corresponding crop price expectations are consistent. We find that changes in expected land prices over time are positively correlated with expected crop price changes, suggesting these two forecasts are somewhat consistent. More importantly, we find that the linkage between these two forecasts is significantly stronger in the medium- and long-term as opposed to the short-term, as well as a substantially stronger correlation for districts that have heavier reliance on crop production as a net farm income source.
Forage and cattle performance relationships with spring precipitation, combined with cattle price variability, were incorporated into a ranch level model to determine if addition of a yearling enterprise to the base cow-calf herd would improve profitability given a 25 percent increase in variability and 50 percent increase in variability over observed (1975-2009) spring precipitation. Our results indicate profitability can be improved by nearly 35 percent through addition of a yearling enterprise to a base cow-calf herd, at the two levels of increased variability in spring precipitation. This adaptive strategy can also stabilize cow numbers across years, thus enhancing long-term sustainability of herd genetics. Christopher T. Bastian is a Professor with the Dept. Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Wyoming. John P. Ritten is Associate Professor with the Dept. Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Wyoming. Justin D. Derner is Research Leader and Rangeland Scientist with the High Plains Grasslands Research Station, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Row crop farming in the Midwest has been increasingly singled out as a major non-point source of nitrate pollution in waterways, putting pressure on farmers to adopt conservation practices. One of the promising conservation practices is cover crop, which is known to promote many aspects of soil and water sustainability. However, adoption of cover crops is very low in the Midwest. Farmers’ perceptions that cover crops are costly was found to be the major barrier to their adoption, as well as lack of familiarity with novel approaches. As the first stage of a larger project funded by the North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program, this study aims to improve the understanding of the changes cover crop brings to farm operations through focus group discussions with experienced cover crop farmers, and to provide partial budgets for cover crops under alternative scenarios.
Gypsum use on cropland offers a number of potential benefits. We surveyed a sample of farmers to learn more about their experiences with gypsum. Respondents’ evaluations of gypsum suggest significant benefits in a number of areas related to soil fertility and condition, water management, and crop performance. Most estimated their gypsum use to be profitable, and their mean partial benefit to cost (B/C) ratio was 1.68. Benefits from gypsum usage were not instantaneous, but rather increased over time. Also, substantial off-farm benefits were likely realized with their gypsum use.
Crop rotation systems are a commonly used production practice with primary benefits including the suppression of soil pathogens and crop pests as well as the reduction of soil nutrient depletion. Realized economic benefits are observed as increased revenue resulting from higher yields, or as reduced pesticide or fertilization expenses. In some instances, the inclusion of one crop in a rotation system may impose costs on another crop. A rice/crawfish rotation is utilized as a case study in this article to illustrate this relationship and to present implications for enterprise cost assignment and land tenure adjustments in situations where this relationship might occur.
The stocker cattle grazing enterprise in the Southern Plains regions of the United States is an important economic activity. The objective of the study was to determine the difference in the expected net return of a no-till forage establishment system relative to the intensive clean-till establishment system typically used in the region. Results show a reduction in fuel, lube, repairs and labor expenses, and fixed machinery costs of the conventionaltill system outweigh the expenses associated with herbicide and herbicide application of the no-till system. Over the eight-year duration of the study, the no-till system realized an average of 11 greater days of grazing compared to the conventional-till system. The expected net return of the no-till establishment system was $36.44 per acre greater than the conventionaltill system; however, this economic advantage is sensitive to relative differences in cattle performance between systems. It is also sensitive to the price of herbicide and price of diesel fuel.
Historically, cropland rental rateshave been substantially higher thanrental rates for pasture. Currentlyhowever, the gap between sellingprices of cropland and pasture inOklahoma has shrunk in westernOklahoma and pasture now sells formore than cropland in easternOklahoma. Regression results showthat primarily two factors explainthis shrinkage. One is that theexplosion in the deer population hasincreased the value of controllingdeer hunting rights; the other is thatincreases in income have created ademand for land for non-commercial farms and ex-urbandevelopment. The income approachhas become less useful to landappraisers, which may be due todifficulty in measuring returns fromhunting rights and hobby farming.Guiling is a budget analyst, Missouri Senate Appropriations Department, Doye is a regents professor and extensioneconomist, and Brorsen is a regents professor and Jean & Pasty Neustadt Chair, Department of AgriculturalEconomics, Oklahoma State University. This project was supported by the USDA Cooperative State Research,Education & Extension Service, Hatch project OKL02170.
Producers interested in precision agriculture lack information on the profitability of variable rate technology (VRT) systems for agricultural sprayers. A partial budgeting framework was developed to evaluate the level of input savings required to pay for investments in VRT. To illustrate this framework, a case study for cotton production in Tennessee is provided. Ownership and information costs were determined for two commerciallyavailable VRT systems and compared to extension recommended input application levels. Map-based VRT systems required input savings of 11 percent to be profitable. Sensor-based systems required input savings from 5 to 11 percent to be profitable depending on imagery resolution.
This paper analyzed the financial ramifications of differences in seasonal input requirements of cowcalf operations by comparing a defined 90-day calving season to year-round calving. Assuming the same calving rate and labor requirements for both production systems, as well as no premiums for larger, more uniform lots of calves with the controlled calving season, uncontrolled calving resulted in slightly higher returns primarily due to better seasonal forage utilization. However, minimal changes to calving rate, expected calf price premiums, and changes in labor requirements favored controlled calving with returns deemed insufficient for small operators to switch from their current practice.
This study was conducted to determine the value of two monensin supplementation strategies for steers and heifers pastured on fall/winter wheat relative to the value of a freechoice mineral supplement containing no monensin. A second objective was to determine the value of extending the fall/winter wheat pasture grazing season by either one or two weeks
