Annual Net Returns to Cover Crops in Iowa
Date
2018
Authors
Liu, Fangge
Sawadgo, Wendiam
Miguez, Fernando E.
Carlson, Sarah
Marcillo, Guillermo
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Copyright 2018 Purdue University
Abstract
Despite the active promotion of cover crops as a key conservation practice, their adoption is very limited. We developed a series of partial budgets based on a statewide survey of Iowa farmers to evaluate the changes in net returns resulting from the incorporation of cover crops into a corn or soybean production system. The average net returns to cover crop use for farmers who did not use cover crops for grazing livestock or forage were consistently negative across different planting and termination methods, tillage practices, and experience levels. Only farmers who used cover crops for grazing livestock or forage and received cost-share payments tended to derive net positive returns from cover crop use. Our results can be used as benchmarks for current or potential cover croppers and for ground-truthing agricultural and conservation policy design.
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Comments
This article is published as Plastina, Alejandro; Liu, Fangge; Sawadgo, Wendiam; Miguez, Fernando E.; Carlson, Sarah; and Marcillo, Guillermo (2018) "Annual Net Returns to Cover Crops in Iowa," Journal of Applied Farm Economics: Vol. 2 : Iss. 2, Article 2. DOI: 10.7771/2331-9151.1030. Posted with permission. Link to Economics Working Paper.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License.