The Economics of Sustainable Agriculture Alternatives on the Semiarid Canadian Prairies: The Case for Legumes and Organic Amendments.

The economic performance of rotations with reduced summerfallow frequency, legume crop alternatives, and manure applications was evaluated using data from a rotation experiment established in 1992 on Brown Chernozemic soil at Bow Island, Alberta (Alberta Crop Diversification Center South). Net returns and variability were calculated for each of the six rotations under test and for different fertilizer treatments, including manure (a total of 20 rotation and fertilizer treatment combinations). A farm-level economic risk model was formulated to simulate optimal rotation selection under uncertainty and risk aversion. The six rotations included continuous wheat (W), fallow-wheat (FW), fallow-wheat-wheat (FWW), flax-wheat-fallow (FxWF), legume-wheat (LW), and grass (G). The wheat and flax phases of the fertilized rotations were fertilized with 0, 20 or 40 kg N ha^-1 (0, 17.9 or 35.7 lbs N ac^-1) and with 0 or 8.6 kg P ha^-1 (7.7 lbs P ac^-1). The W and FW rotations also had a manure treatment. Of the traditional cropping systems, the FWW and FW rotations (with applications of 40 kg ha^-1 N: 8.6 kg ha^-1 P (35.7 lbs ac^-1 IN: 7.7 lbs ac^-1 P) and 20 kg ha^-1 N: 8.6 kg ha^{- 1} P ( 17.8 lbs ac^-1 N: 7.7 lbs ac^-1 P), respectively), exhibited the highest returns and the FW(20,8.6) rotation experienced less variability. The simulation revealed that increases in net returns could be attained through the introduction of a LW rotation because of its ability to fix N and thus reduce the input costs. Risk averse producers would be expected to plant a combination of LW(0,0) and FW(40,8.6). W and FW rotations with manure treatments were not as profitable as those with chemical fertilizer treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]