Economics of conservation tillage systems for winter wheat production in Oklahoma

Francis M. Epplin; Thomas F. Tice; Steven J. Handke; Thomas F. Peeper; Eugene G. Krenzer

ABSTRACT:

Alternative conservation tillage systems that rely on herbicides rather than mechanical tillage for weed control in annual winter wheat production in Oklahoma were investigated by an interdisciplinary team. The additional costs of the herbicides required for the experimental systems exceeded the value of the fuel and labor saved. However, most conservation tillage systems required less investment in machinery and some proved competitive with conventional systems on a total cost basis. Combination systems in which half the farm was conventionally tilled did not generate substantial savings in machinery investment.

Footnotes

Francis M. Epplin and Thomas F. Tice are assistant professors in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, 74078; Steven J. Handke, a former research assistant at Oklahoma State University, farms near Muscotah, Kansas; Thomas F. Peeper and Eugene G. Krenzer, Jr., are associate professors in the Department of Agronomy, Oklahoma State University. The authors acknowledge the assistance of Wendell Bowers and the Oklahoma State University Lo-Till Research Committee, whose members include Dave Batchelder, Bob Burton, Francis Epplin, Eugene Krenzer, Jr., Thomas Peeper, Charles Russell, Larry Singelton, and Bob Westerman. Journal Article No. J-4326 of the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station, Project H-1796. Additional financial support was provided by the Oklahoma Wheat Commission.
Copyright 1983 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society

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