Economics of tillage practices and spring wheat and barley crop sequence in the Northern Great Plains

Aase, J.K. and Schaefer, G.M. (1996) Economics of tillage practices and spring wheat and barley crop sequence in the Northern Great Plains. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. 51(2):167-170.

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Abstract

Our objective was to analyze economics of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)
and barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cropping and tillage practices after 10 years of evaluation. We
initiated the study in 1983 on a Dooley sandy loam (fine-loamy, mixed Typic Argiboroll) 11 km
(7 mi) north of Culbertson, Montana. Annually cropped tillage treatments included sweep tillage
in fall with spring disking, sweep tillage in spring, and no-till. A conventional fallow-crop rotation
was included. Spring wheat yields ranged from 74 kg/ha (1.1 bu/acre) to 3,465 kg/ha (51.5
bu/acre). Net return was highest for no-till annually cropped wheat at $19.04/ha ($7.71/acre)
and lowest for barley-spring wheat rotation at —$23.74/ha (—$9.61/acre). Under conditions of
this 10-year study, in a 356 mm (14 in.) precipitation zone, we conclude that annually cropped
no-till wheat production was the most profitable cropping practice.

Item Type:	Article
NWISRL Publication Number:	0895
Subjects:	Irrigated crops > Small grain Soil > Tillage Mass Import - autoclassified (may be erroneous)
Depositing User:	Dan Stieneke
Date Deposited:	20 Nov 2010 21:54
Last Modified:	22 Nov 2016 23:32
Item ID:	653
URI:	https://eprints.nwisrl.ars.usda.gov/id/eprint/653