Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-15-1991

Keywords

sustainable agriculture, crop yields, alternative farm, 1990 Farm Bill

Abstract

The phrase planting f1exibility was influential in the formation of The Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (the 1990 Farm Bill).Several planting flexibility proposals were introduced during the congressional debates leading up to the 1990 Farm Bl11. Each proposal differed in the amount of planting flexibility given to farmers and which acres to use in the calculation of farm program benefits. In this report, we will look at three of those proposals --the Normal Crop Acreage program, the Triple Base program, and the Integrated Farm Management Program Option. For purposes of our analyses, we have selected 10 case farms (sustainable, and conventional). The case farms' used in this report are the same as those used in other recent research reported by the Economics Department at South Dakota State University (Dobbs, et a1., 1990; Becker and Dobbs, 1990; Cole and Dobbs, 1990). Each sustainable and conventional farm represents one of five different agro-c1imatic areas within South Dakota: south-central, east-central, northeast, northwest, and southwest (Figure 1). In this report, we will first describe the details of each flexibility option. Then, we will show the results of applying the various flexibility options to each sustainable and conventional case farm.

Comments

Economics Research Report 91-9

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