ABSTRACT:
The costs of three conservation tillage systems—chisel plow, ridge-till, and no-till—were compared to a conventional moldboard plow system for hypothetical corn-soybean farms in southern Ontario, differentiated by farm size and soil type. Total farm costs per hectare were higher in all farm scenarios for the moldboard plow and chisel plow tillage systems compared to no-till and ridge-till systems because of their larger machinery complement. Variable costs per hectare for the no-till and ridge-till systems were higher than for the fall tillage systems for each farm scenario. This was due largely to the pre-emergent herbicide treatment costs, which were higher for the two reduced tillage systems. The reductions in labor associated with the reduced tillage systems indicated that labor costs could be reduced up to 61% annually compared with a moldboard plow system.
Footnotes
Alfons Weersink is an assistant professor and Michael Walker is a former graduate research assistant in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Business, and Clarence Swanton is an associate professor in the Department of Crop Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1. James E. Shaw is a weed biologist, Ridgetown College of Agricultural Technology, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, Ridetown, Ontario NOP 2CO. Funding was provided by the Technology Evaluation Program as part of the Soil and Water Environmental Program (SWEEP) and the Agriculture Canada/NSERC Research Partnership Program.
- Copyright 1992 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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