Profitablility of Alternative Farming Systems at South Dakota State University\u27s Northeast Research Station: 1989 Compared to Previous Transition Years

South Dakota State University (SDSU) has been conducting a set of experiment station trials since 1985 in which particular low-input (alternative) farming systems are compared with conventional and reduced tillage systems. The trials are conducted at SDSU\u27s Northeast (NE) Research Station near Watertown. The first 4 years of yield and economic results were reported in a 95-page document by Mends, et al. (1989) several months ago. In this present report, economic results for 1989 are presented and are compared with those in the previous report. Two studies are included in these trials at the NE Station, to represent different sets of crop combinations and rotations. Farming Systems Study I (FSSl) emphasizes row crops and includes Alternative, Conventional, and Ridge Till rotations. The crop combination and rotation for the Alternative system is oats/alfalfa-alfalfa-soybeans-corn. Commercial fertilizers and pesticides are not used in this system, nor is the moldboard plow used. Weeds are controlled primarily by mechanical cultivation, crop rotation effects, and some hand weeding of soybeans. The oats are harvested for grain and also serve as a nurse crop for alfalfa. The alfalfa is harvested for hay the year following seeding; the next year, the field is rotated to soybeans. The year after that, corn is planted. Corn, soybeans, and spring wheat, in that sequence, are included in both the Conventional and the Ridge Till systems. Commercial fertilizer and herbicides are used in both of these systems; products used and application rates are based on current SDSU Plant Science Department recommendations

Effects of Including Alfalfa in Whole-Farm Plans: Comparison of Conventional, Ridge Till, and Alternative Farming Systems

South Dakota State University (SDSU) has been conducting research trials since 1985 at its Northeast Research Station (near Watertown, S.D. ) to compare various conventional , reduced tillage , and low chemical input ( alternative ) farming systems . In one set of comparisons, Conventional and Ridge Till systems consisting of rotated corn, soybeans , and spring wheat are compared with an Alternative (no purchased chemical input) system consisting of rotated oats , alfalfa , soybeans, and corn. The alfalfa is just harvested one year (the year after under seeding in oats) in this system . Economics results for the first 5 years of comparing these systems are reported under Study I in Mends, et al. (1989) and Dobbs and Mends (1990). In those comparisons, the Alternative farming system was the most profitable system in 2 out of the 5 years and its 5-year average profitability was the highest of the three systems. A question that arises out of this analysis concerns whether it is simply having alfalfa in the crop mix, rather than the rotational effect of alfalfa, which made the Alternative system more profitable than the other systems in 1985-1989. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to determine what the inclusion of alfalfa in the Conventional and Ridge Till whole farm systems would do to the net returns of those systems , in comparison to the Alternative system. Crop mix, cultural practices, yields, selling prices and Federal farm program provisions all affect the net returns of these farming systems. Here, we wish to isolate the crop mix effect of including alfalfa in the whole farm plans

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