Economic Issues Associated with No-till

Transcription

1 Economic Issues Associated with No-till 2014 No-till Oklahoma Conference March 11 th & 12 th, 2014 National Center for Employee Development 2801 State Highway East, Norman, OK Francis Epplin Department of Agricultural Economics Oklahoma State University

2 What is required to adopt no-till? No-till Drill or Air Seeder or dependable access to timely custom planting Sprayer or dependable access to timely custom application of herbicides Straw chopper on combine Investment in learning how to farm without tilling For some farmers and landlords, an attitude adjustment

3 Will These Investments be Profitable? The most economical tillage system depends on a number of factors. The most economical system for one farm may not be the most economical for an adjacent farm.

4 Which tillage system is likely to produce the most income? It depends! Soils Climate Cropping alternatives Markets Feasible crop rotations Cost or opportunity cost of labor Cost of fuel, herbicides, machines Number of crop acres managed

5 No-till Has become the convention in regions where the soils and the climate conditions enable farmers to increase the number of harvested acres per year on the farm. Increasing acres harvested without buying or renting more land

6 No-till Enables (in some regions) successful double cropping after harvest of a winter crop cropping of land too steep or too prone to erosion for conventional tillage

7 Perry County, IL ( )

8 Economic Benefit of No-till Increased harvested cropland by 71% from to in the county Crop Rotations Corn-Soybeans Corn-Soybeans-Wheat Double Crop Soybeans 1,000 acre farm, harvests 1,333 acres per year Converted pasture land (originally too steep to farm) to crop land

9 Economic Benefit of No-till Farmers adopted no-till to increase net income Economics account for the change in crops and the change in acres harvested per year for each crop insufficient to compare no-till crop to conventional till crop comparing a no-till crop to pasture; on good soil a grain crop will usually beat pasture

10 Wheat Acres Conventional Tillage % by State Source: USDA ERS EIB 70, 2010

11 Why is no-till not the convention in Oklahoma? historically, crop rotations have not been common summer crops often fail alternative winter crops (barley, oats, rye) intended for grain harvest, have not been economically competitive with wheat in the main cropland areas, double cropping opportunities are limited

12 Why is no-till not the convention in Oklahoma? cropland used to produce pasture is often more valuable for producing forage than for producing other crops permanent pasture is no-till for small farms that grow only continuous wheat for grain, the potential economic benefit from switching to no-till has been minimal

13 Oklahoma Cropland ( ) Wheat

14 Southwest Oklahoma Crop Reporting District Oklahoma Climate Division 7 (Caddo, Comanche, Cotton, Greer, Harmon, Jackson, Kiowa, and Tillman counties)

15 Southwest Oklahoma Agricultural Statistics District (dryland planted acres) CRP 141,000 ac

16 Continuous Wheat Wheat grain yield consequences of growing wheat after wheat after wheat after wheat after wheat.. and planting wheat into wheat residue

17 Wheat Yield (bu/ac) Daniel et al. Alfalfa County, OK Conventional Till Tillage System Stubble Mulch

18 Wheat Yield (bu/ac) Zingg and Whitfield Cherokee, OK Conventional Till Tillage System Stubble Mulch

19 Wheat Yield (bu/ac) 30 Zingg and Whitfield Stillwater, OK Conventional Till Tillage System Stubble Mulch

20 Wheat Yield (bu/ac) Davidson & Santelmann Cherokee, OK Conventional Till Tillage System 18.8 Mulch Tillage

21 Wheat Yield (bu/ac) Heer & Krenzer Stillwater, OK Conventional Till Tillage System No-Till

22 Wheat Yield (bu/ac) Heer & Krenzer Lahoma, OK Conventional Till Tillage System No-Till

23 Wheat Yield (bu/ac) Wheat Yield (Grain-Only System) Lahoma, Oklahoma ( ) Conventional Till Tillage System No-till Epplin, Francis M., Ghazi A. Al-Sakkaf, and Thomas F. Peeper. Impacts of alternative tillage methods for continuous wheat on grain yield and economics: Implications for conservation compliance. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 49-4(1994):

24 Wheat Grain Yield (bu/acre) Decker et al. Alfalfa County, OK Sept 6 Dualpurpose Conventional Tillage No-Till Sept 24 Dualpurpose Production System Oct 17 Grainonly

25 Wheat Grain Yield (bu/acre) Decker et al. Kingfisher County, OK Sept 5 Dualpurpose Conventional Tillage No-Till Sept 25 Dualpurpose Production System Oct 17 Grain-only

26 Wheat Grain Yield (bu/acre) Decker et al. Garfield County, OK Sept 6 Dualpurpose Conventional Tillage No-Till Sept 26 Dualpurpose Production System Oct 16 Grain-only

27 Wheat Yield (bu/ac) Strickland Altus, OK Conventional Till Tillage System No-Till

28 Finding For much of the Oklahoma wheat belt region, for continuous monoculture wheat, the grain yield from plots that contain a greater quantity of surface residue are usually lower than grain yield from plots that contain little surface residue

29 Message If possible Find a crop or crops to ROTATE with wheat

30 Canola-Wheat Rotation vs Continuous Wheat (wheat grain yields)

31 Diversify Crop diversification is relatively more important to system economics than the type of tillage used No-till equipment and know-how enables more rapid response to market and weather opportunities

32 Checklist 1. Do you currently, or do you plan to use a crop rotation? If Yes: consider no-till. 2. Do you plan to double crop by planting grain sorghum or soybeans immediately after wheat harvest,or do you plan to grow summer crops? If Yes: consider no-till.

33 Checklist 3. Would a no-till drill/planter permit you to crop fertile pasture land that is currently not cropped because of potential for erosion? If Yes: consider no-till. 4. Do you have the opportunity to use the potential labor savings (0.25 to 0.75 hours per acre) either to farm additional land, or to earn additional income from an alternative use for your labor? If Yes: consider no-till.

34 Checklist 5. Are you planning to replace your grain drill? If Yes: consider purchasing a machine that has the flexibility to seed into a variety of soil conditions including no-till.

35 For Customized Budgets for Your Farm Contact Your County Extension Office or visit the web site

36 For Assistance with Comprehensive Farm Planning Each farm and farm family is different For an answer tailored for your farm to estimate the economics of diversified crop and tillage systems, use IFMAPS, contact either Contact County or Area Extension Office

37 Acknowledgements Taxpayers for Support of the Agricultural Experiment Station Cooperative Extension Service Jean & Patsy Neustadt Chair Cooperators

38 Thank you! Best wishes for a profitable year. Contact: Francis Epplin f.epplin@okstate.edu

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43 JD 1590

44 No-Till Hoe Type Air Seeder JD 1870

45 No-till (crop and cropping system matters) The original no-till systems was for the row crops (grain sorghum, soybeans, corn) not for wheat In the Mid-south conventional tillage for wheat consisted of one pass with a tandem disk after soybean harvest with combine equipped with a straw chopper to prepare for seeding wheat with a conventional drill (didn t need an expensive no-till drill)

46 No-till (crop and cropping system matters) Shift to no-till for summer row crops is less of a change than shift to no-till for wheat Shift to a no-till planter is relatively less costly than shift to a no-till drill Shift from in-season row crop cultivation to herbicide for in-season weed control occurred prior to adoption of no-till For continuous no-till wheat, herbicides are required for the period between crops as well as in-season

47 No-till (crop and cropping system matters) Shift to no-till for summer row crops is less of a change than shift to no-till for wheat Shift to a no-till planter is relatively less costly than shift to a no-till drill Shift from in-season row crop cultivation to herbicide for in-season weed control occurred prior to adoption of no-till For continuous no-till wheat, herbicides are required for the period between crops as well as in-season