Economics of reduced tillage for cereal and legume production on rainfed farm enterprises of different sizes in semiarid conditions

Abstract

Rainfed crop yields are low in semiarid central Spain because precipitation is limited and highly variable. Under these circumstances, producers have to adopt alternative tillage systems that convey a reduction in their unit costs of production to offset the continuous decline in commodity prices. Farmers respond to this situation in essentially two ways: there is a growing interest in adopting reduced tillage systems for seedbed preparation, and a trend to enlarge enterprises by acquiring more arable land either as ownership or tenancy. The objective of the present study was to assess, in semiarid conditions of central Spain, the economic feasibility of chisel ploughing (CP) and no-tillage (NT) systems compared to mouldboard ploughing (MP) for rainfed winter wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) and forage legume, either vetch ( Vicia sativa L.) or pea ( Pisum sativum L.), production on different farm sizes ranging from 100 to 1600 ha. A decision support system was used to solve for the least-cost machinery selection for each farm enterprise and tillage system considered. No differences were observed in either wheat or forage vetch crop yields averaged across several years, irrespective of the tillage system used. The economic performance was found to depend on the tillage system adopted and farm size. On average fuel consumption was 23% lower in CP and 62% in NT than in MP. Total variable unitary costs were 3.7 and 5.6% lower in CP and NT than in MP. The cost of herbicides in NT was €7.6 ha −1 year −1 higher than in MP and CP. Average unitary gross margins were 11.9 and 10.8% higher in NT than in MP and CP, respectively. If revenues were considered similar in the three tillage systems, MP would still exhibit the poorest economic results in all farm sizes, while CP performance would improve NT values in farm sizes with 200 ha, or less, of arable land. NT was clearly the most profitable system on farms with 400 ha or more of arable land. The 400 ha farm enterprise was observed to mark the breakeven point between the two reduced tillage systems, since up to that size CP was found to provide a better economic performance than NT.