The onsite costs and benefits of conservation tillage in the
Camas Prairie Region of Northern Idaho were estimated. The evaluation
of these costs and benefits included a measurement of the
long-term effects of soil erosion on cropland productivity.
A model developed by Daniel Taylor (1982) was used as a base
for estimating the onsite costs and benefits of conservation
tillage. Although the agronomic relationships of this model were
theoretically and empirically consistent, the variable and depreciation
cost trends were not. Therefore, this model was revised.
A technique for generating site-specific variable and depreciation
costs was developed and incorporated into the original Taylor
model. The depreciation cost calculation was modified to include
Salvage value and modified to correspond with the crop yields used
in this analysis. An algorithm to model changes in output prices
was added to the model.
Heavy tillage, reduced tillage, and no-till were simulated.
Reduced tillage was projected to be the most profitable tillage
system for farmers with planning horizons of 75 years or longer
and personal discount rates of under 7%. Heavy tillage was
projected to be the -most profitable tillage system for farmers
with planning horizons shorter than 75 years. No-till was
always the least profitable tillage system, although the highest
yield projections were produced under no-till.
A summer fallow crop rotation was simulated and the results
were compared with the results of an annual cropping rotation.
The summer fallow rotation was projected to be less profitable
than the annual cropping rotation.
No-till and reduced tillage subsidization and cross compliance
pricing were examined as two potential policies which could be
used to induce farmers to adopt conservation tillage. Subsidies
ranged from zero to $22.97 per acre annually, depending on the
planning horizon and personal discount rate of the farmer. Cross
compliance prices 11% higher than the normalized prices used in
this analysis were needed to induce farmers to adopt no-till
practices. / Graduation date: 1984
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/25948 |
| Date | 06 March 1984 |
| Creators | Bauer, Steven Gerard |
| Contributors | Thomas, Howard R. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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