Profitability of Alternative Management Practices in a Wheat-Soybean, Double-Crop Production System in Arkansas

Growing concerns about the sustainability of soil and water resources in the highly agriculturally productive lower Mississippi River Valley, particularly in the Delta region of eastern Arkansas, require the investigation of traditional and alternative agricultural management practices and their comparative long-term profitability. Therefore, this study used a simple, but robust, two-step novel procedure, econometrics and simulation, to evaluate the long-term effects of a combination of management practices. It consisted of tillage (conventional tillage [CT] or no-tillage [NT]), wheat residue burning (burn [B] or no burn [NB]), wheat-residue level (low [L] and high [H] achieved with differential N fertilization), and irrigation (irrigated [I] or non-irrigated [NI]), on net farm revenue in a wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) -soybean (Glycine max L. [Merr.]), double-crop production system in the region. Results from the last 10 yr of a 15-yr-long field study on a silt-loam soil showed that the alternative combinations of NT-B-H-I, NT-NB-L-I, NT-B-L-I, CT-B-L-I, NT-NB-H-I, and NT-B-H-NI were 7 to 118% more profitable than the traditional set of management practices (CT-B-H-I) for soybean production. Results suggest that leaving wheat residue on the soil surface unburned followed by NT soybean production can be equally to more profitable for producers, while at the same time providing extra benefits to improve the long-term sustainability of soil resources. The NTB- H-NI can conserve both soil and water.