monoculture. Previous studies have identified several impediments to the adoption of no-till for
continuous monoculture winter wheat production. The lack of an inexpensive and effective
herbicide program necessary to control weeds throughout the summer from harvest in June until
planting in October has been an impediment. A no-till budget prepared in 1994 included 4.5
pints per acre of glyphosate (four pounds of emulsifiable concentrate per gallon) at $6 per pint
($48 per gallon) for a per acre cost of $27 per acre (Epplin, Al-Sakkaf, and Peeper). In the
Prairie Gateway, two thirds of the farms that produce wheat, most with conventional tillage, use
no herbicide (Ali). The 1994 study found that the reduction in tillage costs when switching from
conventional tillage to no-till was insufficient to offset the expected increase in herbicide costs.
A second impediment was that some of the first generation no-till grain drills did not
always result in successful stands of wheat. Wheat yields obtained from no-till systems were
often lower than yields obtained from conventional till systems (Bauer and Black; Epplin, Al-
Sakkaf, and Peeper; Heer and Krenzer; Williams et al.). In some cases the marginally effective
no-till drills may have been partly responsible for the lower yields.
During the last decade, two changes have occurred that provide justification for
reevaluating the economics of no-till monoculture wheat production for the region. First, is the
development of more effective no-till grain drills and air seeders. Second, is the reduction in the
price of glyphosate. Generic glyphosate became available in 2000 after the original patent
expired. The price of glyphosate (four pounds of emulsifiable concentrate per gallon) has
declined from a U.S. average of $45.50 per gallon in 1999 (USDA, 2003) to $20 per gallon in
2004. The result of this change is that the cost of herbicide to control summer weeds from
harvest in June until planting in October for continuous monoculture no-till winter wheat
production is less than half of what it was in 1990.