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Role of economic analysis in the evaluation of new dryland technologies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2009

Douglas L. Young
Douglas L. Young
Affiliation:
Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164.
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Abstract

An evaluation of agricultural systems often involves multidisciplinary teams that include crop scientists, animal scientists, soil scientists, pest control specialists, agricultural economists, and others. Agricultural economists can improve the technical quality and comprehe nsiveness of agricultural systems research in six major areas: budgeting and investment analyses; whole-farm and institutional factors; risk considerations; aggregate effects on crop and livestock prices; society-wide welfare effects of technical or policy changes; and economic values of environmental and other nonmarket effects. Economic analysis has been part of several successful multidisciplinary research efforts in the United States Pacific Northwest. These have covered soil conservation, integrated pest management, sustainable agriculture, crop rotation choice, and beef ranch management. As an example of institutional influences on economic outcomes, one study showed that the structure and selectivity of United States commodity programs have favored conventional over low-input rotations. Regarding risk management, an appropriate “package system” including conservation tillage, a diversified crop rotation, and adequate chemical weed management was shown both to sustain profitability and to reduce income fluctuations. Properly designed economic analysis can make similar contributions to identifying successful dryl and agricultural technologies throughout the world.

Keywords

Pacific Northwestdryland agricultureriskmultidisciplinary research
Type
Selected Papers from the U.S.-Middle East Conference on Sustainable Dryland Agriculture
Information
American Journal of Alternative Agriculture , Volume 11 , Issue 2-3 , September 1996 , pp. 127 - 131
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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