19602015
  • Authors:
    • Dahl, B.
    • Gustafson, C.
    • Wilson, W.
  • Source: Agricultural Finance Review
  • Volume: 69
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: Malting barley is an important specialty crop in the Northern Plains and growers mitigate risk with federally subsidized crop insurance and production contracts. The purpose of this paper is to quantify risks growers face due to "coverage gaps" in crop insurance that result in uncertain indemnity payments when their crop does not meet contract specifications. A stochastic dominance model is developed to evaluate alternative strategies for growers with differing risk attitudes and production practices (irrigation vs dryland). The results illustrate how alternative crop insurance provisions affect efficient choice sets for growers. Risk premiums for irrigated growers all point to valuations favoring more coverage, contracts, and malting option B. As the crop insurance industry matures in the functions it performs, it will become increasingly more important to address quality attributes.
  • Authors:
    • Wu, J. Q.
    • Singh, P.
    • Flury, M.
    • Schillinger, W. F.
    • Huggins, D. R.
    • Stoeckle, C. O.
    • Al-Mulla, Y. A.
  • Source: Applied Engineering in Agriculture
  • Volume: 25
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: Establishing winter wheat in the dryland Pacific Northwest requires soil water at depths that the seeds are planted in the early fall. Usually, a soil mulch is created and maintained to conserve seed-zone water and to promote the early establishment of winter wheat. Unfortunately, the tillage used to create the soil mulch often results in unacceptable levels of wind erosion. Chemical (no-till) fallow (CF) and reduced-tillage fallow (RT) are two alternatives for reducing wind erosion, but their effectiveness in maintaining sufficient seed-zone water is unknown. Our objectives were to: (i) assess the effects of CF and RT on seed- and root-zone temperature and water; and (ii) test a model (Simultaneous Heat and Water, SHAW) for simulating management effects on soil temperature and water. Weather data, soil temperature, and water content were monitored in CF and RT treatments. The RT treatment was observed to retain more seed-zone water over summer compared to CF. During the wet winter, CF gained more water than RT. Observed soil temperatures were higher in the CF than in RT. SHAW-simulated water contents followed the trend of the field data, though it slightly under-predicted soil water content for CF and over-predicted for RT. We concluded that RT would provide more seed-zone water for winter wheat establishment than CF. In addition, the SHAW model proved adequate in simulating soil water and temperature, and therefore may serve as a useful modeling tool for evaluating tillage and residue management alternatives.
  • Authors:
    • Brown, S.
    • Westhoff, P.
  • Issue: 05-09
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: This report incorporates higher energy prices estimated by CRA International under H.R. 2454 (The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009) on Missouri crop production costs. This analysis uses current 2009 Missouri crop production cost estimates as the base and examines the level of these production costs in 2020, 2030, 2040 and 2050 assuming these production costs change only as a result of the higher energy costs estimated by CRA International under H.R. 2454. Using the 11, 34 and 45 percent increases found by CRA International in motor fuel, natural gas and electricity prices, respectively, by 2050 as a result of H.R. 2454, estimated Missouri crop operating costs increase by 8.1, 8.8, 4.4 and 10.4 percent for dryland maize, irrigated maize, soyabeans and wheat, respectively.
  • Authors:
    • Davis, R. A.
    • Huggins, D. R.
    • Cook, R. J.
    • Paulitz, T. C.
  • Source: Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology
  • Volume: 31
  • Issue: 4
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: Fusarium crown rot of wheat (Triticum aestivum), caused by Fusarium pseudograminearum and Fusarium culmorum, is a yield-limiting disease in the dryland wheat-production area of the intermountain Pacific Northwest and is exacerbated in water-stressed plants induced by overfertilizing with nitrogen (N). Plants with excess N deplete water from the soil profile more rapidly and become drought stressed prematurely. Traditionally a problem on winter wheat in summer fallow, this disease has become more important for spring wheat in continuous cropping areas managed for high grain protein levels. During 3 years with direct seeding (no till) near Pullman, Washington, we investigated whether a split application of N, with some applied the previous fall and some with planting, could limit the disease compared with all N applied in the spring and with no N as the check. We also investigated the influence of the previous (rotation) crop (winter and spring canola, Brassica rapa; barley, Hordeum vulgare; or peas, Pisum sativum) on disease, grain yield, grain protein concentration, and populations of Fusarium in the soil. Overall, the DNA concentration of F. culmorum was significantly greater than F. pseudograminearum, and F. culmorum was highest following spring barley. Disease severity and yield were consistently lower in the no-N treatments compared with the other N treatments. The split application reduced disease in only 1 of 3 years. The all-spring application resulted in higher grain protein in 2 of 3 years compared with the split application, but yield was not affected. The previous crop had small but significant effects on disease, but they were not consistent from year to year and often interacted with the N treatment. Grain protein was higher in wheat after pea in 2 of 3 years. In conclusion, splitting of N had little effect on fusarium crown rot, probably because the N level in both treatments was conducive for disease development. Even if not a host species, the previous crop had little effect on subsequent disease, probably because Fusarium persists for more than one season as chlamydospores and in crop residue in this dry summer climate.
  • Authors:
    • Lal,R.
    • Dubey,A.
  • Source: Journal of Crop Improvement
  • Volume: 23
  • Issue: 4
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: Sustainability of agricultural systems depends on their carbon (C) footprint, and the C output:C input ratio. Thus, this study was conducted with the objectives to: (i) assess the agricultural C emissions in relation to predominant farming systems in Punjab, India, and Ohio, USA; (ii) evaluate C-use efficiency of production systems; and (iii) determine the relative sustainability of agronomic production systems as determined by their C footprints. The data collated on C-based input into the soil for predominant crops for both regions included the amounts of fertilizers (N, P, K), herbicides and pesticides used for each crop annually, tillage methods, cropland area, total production of each crop, area under different farming systems, water-management practices (e.g., tubewell irrigation), and total number of livestock. These data were used to compute C equivalent (CE) per hectare of input and output, and the relative sustainability indices as a measure of the C-production efficiency. There existed a linear relationship observed between C input and C output for Punjab, indicating that an increase of 1 Tg/yr (1 Tg=teragram=10 12 g=million ton) of C input resulted in the corresponding C output of ~12 Tg/yr. A similar linear relationship between input and net C output between the 1930s and 1980s was observed for Ohio, and the ratio reached a plateau during 1990s. The average C-sustainability index (increase in C output as % of C-based input) value for Ohio from 1990 to 2005 was 35-43, almost 2.5 times that of Punjab. Since 1989, there has been a major shift in Ohio from conventional tillage to reduced and conservation tillage along with a decline in fertilizer use. No-till farming is practiced on about 35% of the cultivated area, which involves elimination of plowing, retention of crop residue mulch, and judicious use of chemicals. In Punjab, crop residues are removed, resulting in loss of C from the soil organic carbon pool. Hence, the C-based sustainability index is much higher in Ohio than in Punjab. C-efficient systems are more sustainable than inefficient farming systems, and residue removal reduces agricultural sustainability by depleting the soil C pool.
  • Authors:
    • NASS
    • USDA
  • Year: 2009
  • Authors:
    • NASS
    • USDA
  • Source: 2007 U.S. Census of Agriculture
  • Volume: 2
  • Issue: 8
  • Year: 2009
  • Authors:
    • Scialabba, N.
    • Hepperly, P.
    • Fließbach, A.
    • Niggli, U.
  • Year: 2009
  • Authors:
    • North Carolina Department of Revenue
  • Year: 2009
  • Authors:
    • Niandou, M. A. S.
    • Watts, D. W.
    • Ahmedna, M.
    • Laird, D. L.
    • Busscher, W. J.
    • Novak, J. M.
  • Source: Soil Science
  • Volume: 174
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: Agricultural soils in the southeastern U.S. Coastal Plain region have meager soil fertility characteristics because of their sandy textures, acidic pH values, kaolinitic clays, low cation exchange capacities, and diminutive soil organic carbon contents. We hypothesized that biochar additions will help ameliorate some of these fertility problems. The study objectives were to determine the impact of pecan shell-based biochar additions on soil fertility characteristics and water.