Evaluating Ten Cropping Alternatives for the Midsouth1

Abstract

AbstractMany crop production systems and cropping sequences are available in the Midsouth and each differs in its management and potential contribution to net farm income. This paper considers several of these variables using yields and costs of production data from a 3‐yr crop production study in Mississippi. A nonirrigated experiment was conducted on Leeper silty clay (fine montmorillonitic, nonacid, thermic Vertic Haplaquepts) from 1976 through 1980. The experiment contained 10 treatments of five monocrop and five doublecrop enterprises in randomized block design. Monocrops were commercial hybrid corn (Zea mays L.), soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.], grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench], sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.), and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Doublecrops were wheat followed by the first four monocrops plus an experimental, insect and disease resistant corn hybrid. Yield and production records were maintained and used to calculate net returns for the cropping alternatives. The five enterprises with highest net returns per hectare (in descending order) were monocrop corn ($495), doublecropped wheat‐soybean ($407), monocrop soybean ($326), doublecropped wheat‐resistant corn ($306), and doublecropped wheat‐sunflower ($285). The farming system that most fully utilized a complement of sixrow equipment and associated power units, and maximized net farm income above variable costs, machinery ownership costs, and land costs was calculated to be 279 ha of cropland as determined by linear programming techniques. This 279 ha would be partitioned as follows: monocrop corn (120 ha), monocrop wheat (13 ha), doublecropped wheat‐resistant corn (62 ha), and doublecropped wheat‐soybean (84 ha). Net return above specified expenses was computed to be $45 897 annually.