Economic and Environmental Implications of Small Grain Production and Use on Pennsylvania Dairy Farms

Abstract

Whole farm simulation was used to determine if adding small grain crops to traditional cornand alfalfa rotations provided long-term environmental and economic benefits. Small grain croppingstrategies included 1) corn double cropped with barley harvested as cash crop grain and strawbedding, 2) corn double cropped with barley harvested as feed grain and straw, 3) corn doublecropped with barley harvested as silage, 4) corn double cropped with rye harvested as silage, and 5)corn replaced with cash crop wheat and straw bedding. Nitrogen leaching loss over the farm wasreduced by 10 kg/ha (9 lb/acre) when 40% of the corn was double cropped with a small grain, andsoil P accumulation was reduced by 2 kg/ha (1.8 lb/acre). Farm net return or profit was increased byup to $93/cow when double-cropped barley or single-cropped wheat was harvested as grain andstraw, by about $30/cow for double-cropped barley silage, and $50/cow for double-cropped ryesilage. Use of small grains generally reduced the risk or year-to-year variation in net return. Use ofsmall grain crops on Pennsylvania dairy farms should be encouraged, particularly when doublecropped with corn, to reduce N leaching loss, reduce soil P accumulation, and improve farm profit.