The purpose of this paper was to quantify economic and energy use implications of new improved irrigation and limited tillage production systems for the Texas High Plains. Per hectare uses of natural gas and electricity under alternative irrigation distribution systems for corn, sorghum, wheat, cotton, and soybeans were utilized to estimate total amounts of natural gas and electricity used in the production of these crops on the High Plains of Texas. The amount of diesel fuel used was estimated for conventional and limited tillage systems under dryland and irrigation production. Total amounts of water used for the five crops under the improved and conventional irrigation systems were also estimated for the High Plains. Results indicated improved irrigation and limited tillage systems reduced energy and water use on the High Plains. Total natural gas and electricity were estimated to decline over 20 percent, diesel fuel declined 32 percent, and water use for irrigation declined about 23 percent. Use of the improved irrigation and limited tillage production systems was also shown to significantly increase annual net returns to farmers ($40.0 million or 13.3 percent).

This research explores the soil testing practices and interests of organic farmers in New England. Data were collected through telephone surveys conducted between December 1998 and January 1999 with 81 certified organic farmers. Organic farmers' commitment to the maintenance of healthy soils necessitates the use of soil evaluation tools. However, it is becoming increasingly understood that a complete picture of soil quality cannot be created solely through the use of laboratory soil tests. For example, many of the soil's critical physical characteristics are more suited to in-field assessment than to laboratory analysis. For this reason, utilization of both laboratory and on-farm tests was investigated. The use of evaluation tools can be influenced by the degree to which laboratory and farming services help organic farmers put test results into practice. Thus, additional questioning focused on the ease of understanding test results, the usefulness of soil test results and recommendations to organic farmers, and the likelihood of turning to expert help when soil management issues arise. Results indicate that in managing their soils, organic farmers in New England rely heavily on laboratory tests provided by public institutions. Most farmers were satisfied with laboratory services and found test results easy to interpret. Over one-quarter (31%) of the farmers surveyed were employing on-farm tests, but very few of these tests assessed physical or biological characteristics of the soil. Organizations most often sought by organic farmers for information on soil quality management were Extension services, followed by local organic certifying agencies, and state agriculture departments.

The semiarid regions (SARs) are characterized by extreme temperature changes, low and unevenly distributed precipitation, hazardous torrential rains, and frequent early spring droughts. Barley is the most highly adapted cereal in SARs, but durum wheat is the most widely cultivated. The area in cereals varies considerably from year to year, and yields are low. Tillage practices are used to conserve both soil and moisture and to prepare the seed bed. However, improved fertilizer use and weed control practices are not being used. Without development of needed cultural and tillage practice systems, the genetic potential of today's varieties cannot be realized. Planting depth and rate, row spacing, fertilizer application, and weed control were investigated under conventional tillage and reduced tillage systems. In on-farm trials, reduced tillage did not significantly affect durum wheat yield but slightly increased barley yield compared with traditional practices. Optimum planting depth for both wheat and barley was 7 cm. Higher seeding rates increased the yield of both crops. Highest yields were obtained at planting rates of 140 kg/ha for wheat and 100 kg/ha for barley. At these rates, maximum yields were achieved at row spacings of 30 cm for barley and 20 cm for durum wheat. Use of fertilizer and weed control increased yields substantially. Sustained and increased production in SARs can be achieved with a “package of practices” approach that incorporates these cultural and tillage practices.

A statistical model of crop-weed competition is developed to permit, but not require, the existence of crop tolerance of weed pests. The popular rectangular hyperbolic model of crop-weed competition is shown to be a special case of the more comprehensive model. Application of the model to corn weed control in Massachusetts demonstrates its practicality and detects evidence of pest-tolerant crop response in this crop-weed system.

The policies influencing the American agricultural research agenda are developed by Congress, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the 58 state agricultural experiment stations of the land-grant university system, with input from various advisory groups. Despite the slow pace of change in the agricultural research agenda, there are no special barriers keeping the research system from adapting to contemporary and alternative agriculture issues. Rather, agricultural researchers have neither appropriate professional incentives nor sufficient financial incentives to shift toward alternative agriculture. Public intervention to alter these incentives has been thwarted because agricultural research institutions set their agendas through obscure processes. Five areas of policy change that could improve the prospects for evolution of a significant alternative agriculture research agenda are: 1) imposing a means test for formula fund payment limitations to states, with saved funds directed toward alternative agriculture research; 2) making priority setting a condition for receiving federalfunds for agricultural research to make the research agenda-setting process clearer to all interested parties; 3) requiring that federally funded research programs be categorized by the specific social goals toward which they are directed, to aid in judgments about the relevance of specific public agricultural research programs; 4) requiring information on research programs to be reported in a way that is specifically relevant to the alternative agriculture agenda; 5) formally involving public citizens and farmers in reviewing agricultural research grants to assure that the usefulness of proposed research is weighed along with scientific merit. These proposals complement current interest in making science generally more responsive to national priorities, and are entirely feasible within current agricultural research policy processes. Their effectiveness, however, is limited by the shrinking influence of federal funding in the state agricultural experiment station system, and they are only incremental changes within the existing system rather than radical reforms toward an alternative research system.

Recent research and debate in sustainable agriculture has focused on the role of commodity programs in shaping rotation decisions. The commodity programs are often cited as obstacles to establishing long-term, diversified rotations. However, predicting which rotations would be practiced in the absence of commodity programs is difficult. How strongly commodity programs influence the rotation decision depends on the size of the economic incentive to participate and the percentage of cropland enrolled in the program. Data from the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS) were used to calculate the distribution of the percentage of cropland in corn base for each farm record at ASCS in the Corn Belt and Lake States in 1988. The distribution shows that the level of corn program enrollment varies widely. Many corn base acres are found on farms with high corn base enrollment levels, which potentially constrains the rotation choice. However, enrollment levels in the corn program do appear to allow the option of diversified rotations for many corn base acres in the Corn Belt and Lake States, even during the high corn price support years of the mid to late 1980s.

Basic microbiological information is presented which is relevant to an understanding of the decomposition of crop residues in conservation and conventional tillage practices. Little has been known about the role in crop residue decomposition of microbial populations that grow on dead leaves and stems of crop plants standing in the field after maturation. Even the identity of such organisms has not been thoroughly defined. Dead leaves and stems were collected from corn and from other field crop, garden, and native plants standing during weathering after maturation in fields at Beltsville, Md., and at seven other U.S. locations in the fall of 1984 and the spring of 1985. Certain “field fungi” from the genera Alternaria, Cladosporium, Fusarium, and Helminthosporium (Bipolaris) occurred as a common population growing on samples from most locations in spite of major differences in temperature and precipitation during the weathering. All fungi observed are known from the literature to be able to decompose native cellulose in pure culture. Some can grow on plant waxes. They grow poorly, if at all, in the absence of oxygen. All grow best in the presence of free water; none are true xerophytes, although some can resist wetting-drying cycles. They are mesophiles and exhibit most rapid growth at about 25–28 C. Some can survive over winter in plant tissues in cold climates. Probable relevance of these characteristics to residue decomposition in field situations is discussed.