no-till farm. If the no-till drill operation could be custom hired, it might be more reasonable to
assume that no-till drilling for the 320 and 640-acre farms was custom hired. However, based
upon anecdotal evidence provided by the Oklahoma Farm and Ranch Custom Rates survey,
custom operated no-till wheat grain drilling is not widely available (Doye, Sahs, and Kletke).
Figure 3 includes a chart of the budgeted machinery labor requirements.
As shown in Table 5, wheat seed ($10.50 per acre), fertilizer ($22.55 per acre),
insecticide ($3.00 per acre), and custom harvest and hauling ($20.80 per acre) costs are assumed
to be the same for both systems across all farm sizes. The budgeted cost of the herbicide
program for the no-till system (4.5 pints of glyphosate) is $11.25 per acre. No herbicide is
budgeted for the conventional tillage system.
Figure 4 includes a chart of total operating costs ($/acre) for both production systems
across the four farm sizes. These costs are also reported in Table 5. Operating costs for the no-
till system are $5 to $6 per acre more than for the conventional tillage system for the two large
farms. For these farms, no-till requires $11.25 per acre more for herbicide and saves $6 to $7 per
acre in machinery fuel, lube, and repairs. For the two small farms, no-till requires $11.25 per
acre more herbicide and $11 per acre more custom application, but saves about $7 per acre in
fuel, lube, and repairs. Estimated operating costs for the two small farms are approximately $16
per acre greater for the no-till system.
Figure 5 includes a chart of total operating plus machinery fixed costs. These costs are
also reported in Table 5. The estimated total operating and machinery costs are $10 per acre
greater for the 320 and 640-acre no-till farms than for the corresponding conventional tillage
farms. However, estimated costs are $3 per acre greater for the conventional tillage 1,280 and