Research Accomplishment Reports 2011

The Economics of Precision Agricultural Machinery Management

C. Dillon
Department of Agricultural Economics

 

Non-Technical Summary

This research is needed to provide further economic assessment of precision agriculture machinery management, including economics, in a multidisciplinary analysis. Ultimately, this research aims at providing the missing element of the analysis of the economic performance of precision agriculture machinery regarding both profitability and risk management in a whole farm setting.

2011 Project Description

Three research outputs for the year resulted from research undertaken in this project. One refereed journal article published in Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics is a direct product from a Ph.D. dissertation attributable to this project. Furthermore, a poster presentation and a selected paper presentation resulted from efforts related to this project.

2011 Impact

The value of this research project has been to provide managerial decision-making assistance by evaluating the risk and returns of various production and management practices, including their interrelationships. These contributions in 2011 include empirical evaluation of the economics of auto-steer navigation, edamame profitability and transitions to organic production by Greek farmers.

A whole farm assessment of the economic, risk, and production implications due to the adoption of auto-steer navigation determined that the technology was profitable for a grain farmer in Kentucky with net returns increasing nearly 1% or over $3 per acre. Additionally, auto-steer navigation enables reduction in production risk. Adoption of the technology is accompanied with altered production practices in exploiting its optimal value. Soybean production is impacted the most by the addition of sub-meter auto-steer navigation. When analyzing both auto-steer systems concurrently adopted, it is evident that sub-meter dominates RTK auto-steer when determining the optimal production practices.

The economic potential for edamame production by Kentucky farmers was established in another study undertaken in this project. For the economically preferred weed management strategy of conventional tillage over cover cropping, the break-even price of $0.37/pound was required to switch from traditional soybean production. This indicates the potential for edamame to flourish in Kentucky with favorable market price levels but the need for substantial investment in harvesting machinery is noted.

Transition to organic farming by Greek producers was most positively influenced by use of direct sales, education level and lack of off farm employment opportunities.

2011 Publications

Shockley, J.M., C.R. Dillon and T. Stombaugh. A Whole Farm Analysis on the Influence of Auto-Steer Navigation on Net Returns, Risk, and Production Practices. Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics. 43,1(2011):57-75.

Shockley, J., C. Dillon and T. Woods. 2011. Estimating the Economic Viability of a New Crop Alternative for the U.S. Organic Market: Edamame-A Vegetable Soybean. Selected poster presented at the Agricultural and Applied Economic Association's 2011 AAEA & NAREA Joint Annual Meeting. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, July 24-26.

Vassalos, M. and C.R. Dillon. 2011. Going Organic or Conventional A Case Study for the Farm Specific Factors Affecting the Transition to Organic Farming in Lake Kerkini: Greece. Paper presented at the 4th Annual International Symposium on Agriculture, ATINER, Athens, Greece, July 18-19.