Economies of Size for Conventional Tillage and No-till Wheat Production

Economies of Size for Conventional Tillage and No-till Wheat Production
Abstract

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 farm size and by production system. Key words: wheat, tillage, size
economies, cost of production

Introduction

Cropping alternatives in the Northwestern Oklahoma plains are limited as a result of
climate and soil type. Continuous monoculture hard red winter wheat is the predominate crop.
In 1975, more than 96% of the cropland in Garfield County, Oklahoma was seeded to winter
wheat. By 1995, the proportion seeded to wheat, excluding land in the Conservation Reserve
Program, had increased to more than 99% (Oklahoma Agricultural Statistics Service).

Continuous monoculture wheat produced with conventional tillage methods has not been
very profitable for farmers in the region. The USDA reported that the estimated cost of
producing wheat in the Prairie Gateway region, which includes most of the southern Great
Plains, exceeded the estimated returns by $74 per acre in 2001. Even after removing the $30 per
acre opportunity cost of land and $17 per acre opportunity cost of unpaid labor, the estimated
costs exceeded returns by $27 (U.S. Department of Agriculture). These data do not include
government subsidies, but the problem of low returns from continuous monoculture wheat is
evident.

Less than three percent of the wheat farms in the Prairie Gateway use no-till (direct
seeding) to produce wheat (Ali). This includes wheat produced in rotations as well as wheat in

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