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

budgeted at $1.00 per gallon, interest rate at $0.09 per dollar per year borrowed, and insurance at
0.006 of average value. A tax rate of 0.01 of purchase price was assumed.

The machinery complement for the 320-acre conventional tillage farm includes a 95
horsepower tractor matched with a plow, chisel, disk, and conventional drill. The 320-acre no-
till farm includes a 95 horsepower tractor and a 10-foot no-till drill. For the 640-acre
conventional tillage farm a 155 horsepower tractor is matched with a plow, chisel, disk, and
conventional drill. The no-till farm includes only a 155 horsepower tractor and a 20-foot no-till
drill.

The machinery complement for the 1,280-acre conventional tillage farm includes two
tractors (155 and 170 horsepower), sprayer, fertilizer spreader, plow, chisel, disk, and
conventional drill. The 1,280-acre no-till farm machinery complement includes two tractors (95
and 155 horsepower), sprayer, fertilizer spreader, and no-till drill. The complement assembled
for the 2,560-acre conventional tillage farm includes three tractors (95 and two 255 horsepower),
sprayer, fertilizer spreader, plow, two chisels, two disks, and a conventional air seeder. The
2,560-acre no-till farm complement includes two tractors (95 and 255 horsepower), sprayer,
fertilizer spreader, and a no-till air seeder.

Results

Table 5 includes estimates of machinery labor, machinery investment, and production
costs for both systems across the four farm sizes. Figure 1 includes a chart of the average
machinery investment per acre. The difference in average machinery investment between the
conventional tillage and no-till machinery complements ranges from $22 per acre for the 640-
acre farm to $56 per acre for the 2,560-acre farm. These results show that the machinery cost
estimates depend upon the type and set of machines selected to include in the complement for a

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