Intensive Crop Rotation Yield and Economic Performance in Minimum Tillage and No Tillage in Northeastern Oregon

Abstract

In the intermediate annual precipitation zone (14 to 18 inches) of northeastern Oregon, there is interest in increasing the intensity of cropping with spring crops. Mechanical tillage remains popular for seedbed preparation and weed control, but contributes to environmental problems and high labor and fuel cost. No-tillage (NT) crop production can reduce on site and off site problems and has lower labor and fuel costs, but soil-borne disease and weed control problems can limit yields. We compared crop yields, production costs, and economic returns of an intensive, four-year crop production rotation under two management systems: (i) minimum tillage (MT) with cultivation by chiseling, sweeping, and rod weeding; and (ii) NT with chemical weed control. The rotation was fallow-winter wheat-dry spring pea-winter wheat in which a spring broadleaf crop is included to aid in the control of winter annual weeds and reduce host pathogen levels of soil-borne cereal diseases. Four year averages of wheat yields in the NT treatment were equal to or greater than those in the MT treatment whereas dry green pea production was roughly equal in each treatment. Crop productivity differed significantly in each phase of the rotation in descending order from winter wheat following fallow [4,578 lb/acre (76 bu/acre)], winter wheat following dry spring pea [3,548 lb/acre (59 bu/acre)], to dry spring pea (1,505 lb/acre). Partial budget analysis shows that NT is substantially less costly than MT in terms of labor and fuel, potentially making NT economically viable for intensive cropping systems in the intermediate precipitation dryland region of northeastern Oregon.