Tuesday, November 6, 2007
163-15
Economics of No-Till Cropping Systems across the Landscape from 2001-2006: Cook Agronomy Farm, Pullman, Washington.
Kathleen Painter, Washington State University, CTR for Sustaining Agric. and Nat. Res., Pullman, WA 99164-6210 and David Huggins, USDA-ARS, 215 Johnson Hall, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164.
The performance of crops and rotations can vary considerably across different field locations in the dryland cropping region of the Palouse near Pullman , WA . In 2001, six different crop rotation strategies under continuous no-tillage were established across 37 ha of the WSU Cook Agronomy Farm. Crop performance including crop yield, grain quality and economic returns were assessed each year at 369 geo-referenced grid points representative of typical field heterogeneity. By harvest in 2006, each rotation had completed two cycles and we present an evaluation of spatial and temporal variability of crop and rotation performance. Spatial variability of wheat, barley, canola and pea performance varied up to 3-fold across field locations. Specific locations in the field were consistently identified as either high or low performing areas. Economic returns from alternative crops (peas, canola, barley) were low and often negative in contrast to winter wheat which provided the highest returns. Further details on crop and rotation performance across the landscape will be presented.