Total Net Farm Income Research Articles

Economic Assessment of Lemon Production in Ukhrul District of Manipur

Lemon production is a profitable enterprise as it improves the economic life of the farmers. The study was conducted in three villages of Lungchong Maiphei block in Ukhrul district of Manipur. Samples of 90 respondents were selected randomly by using Proportionate Random Sampling method. The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of area is positive for all the districts. The highest growth rate at 38.85% was recorded in Tamenglong followed by Senapati (23.68%) and Ukhrul (18.12%). Total cost of cultivation for lemon was ` 98301.31/ha. The total net farm income was ` 206886.67/ha. Net present value and payback period were found to be ` 61816.36 and 7.5 respectively. The Benefit Cost ratio (BCR) over total cost was equal to 1.23 indicating lemon production was economically viable.

Trade-offs around the use of biomass for livestock feed and soil cover in dairy farms in the Alaotra lake region of Madagascar

Conservation agriculture (CA) is promoted as a promising technology to stabilize or improve crop yields in Africa and Madagascar. However, small-scale farmers face difficulties to retain soil cover, mainly because of competing uses for the biomass produced, especially to feed cattle. To explore the relation between dairy production and CA we developed an optimisation model at farm level. Our aim was to explore trade-offs between CA practices and the size of dairy cow herds. Our model includes three main components: the farm, the crops and the cattle herd. The optimisation was made on the total net income for three years. Biomass produced by cropping activities can either serve as mulch or to feed cows. We applied a constraint on the minimum soil cover % to keep at the end of each year for CA fields: from 30% to 95%. We simulated two scenarios of milk market: a small milk market with low forage price and an open milk market scenario with higher price of forage. Three prototypes of farms were simulated with different proportion and size of four kinds of field. These three prototypes were: medium-sized farm with hillsides dominating, medium-sized farm with paddy fields dominating and small-sized farm with hillsides. Changing the degree of soil cover to be retained on CA plots did not significantly modify the total net farm income. It was more strongly influenced by the characteristics of the milk market. In case of a limited milk market it was not profitable to have more than seven cows because the expenses were not compensated by animal production. When setting minimum soil cover to 30% then all of the simulated results include biomass coming from CA cropping system even with 12 cows/farm. Conversely when setting this constraint to 95%, above 6/7 cows/farm forage come only from conventional fields. In all of the situations simulated even with 6 cows, with the current and twice the price for forage, it was possible to keep at least 50% of soil cover on 30–60% of the total farm area. CA was not feasible for farms with no irrigated paddy fields or when forage fetched a high price regardless of the constraint for % of soil cover to be kept on CA fields. Overall, CA systems can be beneficial for dairy cow farmers due to the forage produced, although the milk market and thus the value of biomass for forage, has a strong influence on CA practice at field level.

Whole-farm effects of livestock intensification in smallholder systems in Gansu, China

Simulation models can help to identify the whole-farm economic and biophysical impacts of smallholder farmers altering their farming systems. Incorporating long-term climate-induced variability in crop and livestock production enables the implications for agricultural household income and risk to be explored over a range of seasonal conditions. In this study, a simulation model is used to answer the following question: can reducing the area used for grain production by allocating more land to lucerne (Medicago sativa) and increasing livestock numbers improve total net farm income, reduce income variability and maintain grain self-sufficiency for farmers in the Qingyang Prefecture of Gansu Province, China? This was examined for three representative farm types found in the region: a low land-labour ratio farm household, a subsistence-oriented farm household, and a livestock-focused farm household.The Integrated Analysis Tool (IAT), a simulation model of a household farming system, was used to combine crop and forage production simulations, a livestock production model and a household socio-economic model to explore the impact of changes to farming systems over a 40year simulation period. Data from 90 surveyed households were used to define the structure of the three farm household types and to calibrate the IAT model specifically for Qingyang Prefecture.Additional livestock increased total household net incomes, increased net livestock incomes and reduced net crop incomes for the subsistence-oriented and livestock-focused farm households. For these households, the greater commitment to livestock also reduced grain self-sufficiency due to increased frequency of purchasing grain for home-consumption. Nevertheless, additional livestock reduced income variability for these households whilst improving total net income.The methodology used is useful for understanding changes in farming systems as it focuses on the feasibility and profitability of alternative enterprise mixes and incorporates climate variability. The results support current debates on targeting livestock policies towards smallholders as subsistence-oriented farm households appear to be the largest beneficiaries from livestock interventions. The analysis demonstrates that tradeoffs between net income and grain self-sufficiency are important for households, especially when they are moving from subsistence-based to market-based production.

Methods for Measuring the Economic Impact of Ambient Pollutants on the Agricultural Sector: Discussion

The author faults three papers showing alternative methods of measuring the impacts of ozone on crop yields (which progress from experimental test plot to farm-level profits to aggregate welfare implications) for not informing the reader on the importance of the problem. In analyzing the results of four models, he concludes that we have discovered that tropospheric ozone tends to reduce soybean yields more than corn yields, and that the welfare gains from reducing the ozone concentration 25% in the Corn Belt is only about $650 million, or less than 4% of total net farm income for the US. What the papers fail to tell is the total cost to society of reducing the concentrations of ozone and the overall benefit cost ratio. 3 references.

FARM SYNDICATION AND RISK SHARING: A CASE STUDY*

The effectiveness of fully integrated group farming as a means of permitting farmers to achieve economies by working together and to share risk is investigated using two case‐study farms from the mid‐north region of S.A. Linear programming is used to explore the scope for economies achievable through group farming. The results show that, by joint use of resources, total net farm income can be increased and average costs per unit value of output can be reduced. The risk‐sharing advantages of group farming are examined using quadratic risk programming. A group farm plan is found that generates a risky income which, when shared between the two risk‐averse farmers, allows both to increase their expected utilities. The group plan also generates a higher aggregate expected net farm income than with sole ownership.

Some Impacts of Inflation on Farm Firm Growth

During the 1970s, many changes have influenced U.S. agriculture. Researchers have devoted considerable attention to analyzing the effects of greater variability of agricultural product prices and means of coping with imperfect knowledge. Questions related to energy and the environment are receiving increased research emphasis. Hathaway has written on inflation and food prices and Tweeten has analyzed the real price effects of inflation on agriculture and total net farm income. Agricultural lenders, farmers, and others have expressed concern about higher land prices and capital requirements, but little research has been directed toward analyzing the effects of inflation at the firm level.