A site-specific fertilizer application system that uses optical reflectance measurements of growing plants to estimate fertilizer requirements and that can apply liquid nitrogen fertilizer at a grid level of four square feet is under development. The objective is to determine if the...

Production costs and economies of size for both conventional tillage and no-till wheat production were determined. The reduction in the price of glyphosate after the patent expired improved the relative economics of no-till for continuous monoculture winter wheat. Production costs differ across...

A reasonably precise estimate of the number of harvest days is necessary to determine the investment in harvest machines required to support a lignocellulosic biorefinery. This study was undertaken to determine probability distributions for the number of suitable field work days per month for...

Average producer practice reveals that the expected returns are greater from dual-purpose wheat grown for both forage and grain than for grain-only wheat. Variety trials report an 11 bushel per acre yield advantage and hence economic advantage for grain-only. Research was conducted to reconcile...

Extending switchgrass harvest over many months would require a smaller investment in harvest machines, but would result in a lower average harvestable yield per acre and would require more nitrogen fertilizer, less land for storage, and more land for growing switchgrass. A model was constructed...

Energy beets (Beta vulgaris L.) meet the requirements for advanced biofuel feedstocks under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. A mixed-integer programming model was constructed to determine the breakeven price of ethanol from energy beets, and to determine the optimal size and...

This study estimates the farm-gate breakeven price of switchgrass relative to wheat in Oklahoma. The breakeven price of switchgrass is determined for two situations: when external consequences are ignored and when the environment costs of changes in soil erosion, fertilizer (nitrogen and...

Economic returns to Burkina Faso cotton producers from selling to the government parastatal are compared to those that could be obtained by selling on the international spot market. Based on historical prices, for certain levels of risk aversion, the parastatal price would be preferred to the...

The objective of this paper is to determine production costs of switchgrass, eastern gammagrass, and giant miscanthus using Mississippi and Oklahoma data. Production costs were computed using a standard enterprise budgeting approach by species and method of harvest. Results indicate cost...

Changes in the U.S. peanut program have resulted in drastically decreased planted acres and forced many peanut producers in the Southwest to consider alternative crops. This study examined the economic risk associated with producing peanuts and common alternatives to peanuts. Seedless watermelon...