Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T18:11:17.114Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Impact of the Kansas Wheat Breeding Program on Wheat Yields, 1911-2006

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 January 2015

Lawton Lanier Nalley
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR
Andrew Barkley
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS
Forrest Chumley
Affiliation:
Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS

Abstract

This paper quantifies advances of the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station (KAES) wheat breeding program for two time periods: (1) 1911 to 2006 and (2) 1977 to 2006. Using multiple regression, increases in yields of wheat varieties grown in Kansas are quantified, holding growing conditions and other improvements in productivity constant. Differences in KAES variety yields and those released by other public and private breeders are quantified. During the “new age” of wheat breeding (1977-2006), wheat breeding alone is found to have increased yields by 6.182 bushels per acre, or an average increase of 0.206 bushels per year.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

AgManager. Department of Agricultural Economics, Kansas State University. Internet site: http://www.agmanager.info/(Accessed April 17, 2008).Google Scholar
Alston, J.M., Norton, G.W., and Pardey, P.G. Science under Scarcity: Principles and Practice for Agricultural Research and Evaluation and Priority Setting. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1995.Google Scholar
Arrow, K.The Economic Implications of Learning by Doing.Review of Economic Studies 29(June 1962): 155-73.Google Scholar
Barkley, A.Kansas Wheat Breeding: An Economic Analysis.” Report of Progress 793. Manhattan, KS: Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, October 1997.Google Scholar
Blakeslee, L., and Sargent, R. Economic Impacts of Public Research and Extension Related to Wheat Production in Washington. Research Bulletin XB 0929. Pullman, WA: Agricultural Research Center, Washington State University, 1982.Google Scholar
Boland, M., and Dhuyvetter, K.Economic Issues with Milling Hard White Wheat,” MF-2499. Manhattan, KS: Kansas State University, May 2002.Google Scholar
Bowden, R., Shroyer., J., Roozeboom., K., Claassen., M., Evans., P., Gordon., B., Heer., B., Janssen., K., Long., J., Martin., J., Schlegel., A., Sears., R., and Witt, M. Performance of Wheat Variety Blends in Kansas. Keeping Up with Research No. 128. Manhattan, KS: Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, March 2001.Google Scholar
Brennan, J.P.Measuring the Contribution of New Varieties to Increasing Wheat Yields.Review of Marketing and Agricultural Economics 52(December 1984):175-95.Google Scholar
Brennan, J.P.An Analysis of the Economic Potential of Some Innovations in a Wheat Breeding Programme.Australian Journal of Agricultural Economics 33(April 1989a):4855.Google Scholar
Brennan, J.P.An Analytical Model of a Wheat Breeding Program.Agricultural Systems 31 (April 1989b):349-66.Google Scholar
Byerlee, D., and Traxler, G.National and International Wheat Improvement Research in the Post-Green Revolution Period: Evolution and Impacts.American Journal of Agricultural Economics 77(May 1995):268-78.Google Scholar
Feyerherm, A.M., Paulsen, G.M., and Sebaugh, J.L.Contribution of Genetic Improvement to Recent Wheat Yield Increases in the USA.Agronomy Journal 76(November 1984):985-90.Google Scholar
Foster, W.E., and Babcock, B.A.Commodity Policy, Price Incentives, and the Growth in PerAcre Yields.Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics 25(July 1993):253-65.Google Scholar
Fuglie, K.O., and Walker, T.S.Economic Incentives and Resource Allocation in U.S. Public and Private Plant Breeding. Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics 33(2001):459-73.Google Scholar
Huffman, W.E., and Evenson, R.E. Science for Agriculture: A Long-Term Perspective. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press, 1993.Google Scholar
Greene, W.H. Econometric Analysis, 2nd ed. New York: Macmillan, 1993.Google Scholar
Johnston, J. Econometric Methods, 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1984.Google Scholar
Kaiiba, A.R.M., Verkuijl., H., and Mwangi, W.Factors Affecting Adoption of Improved Maize Seeds and Use of Inorganic Fertilizer for Maize Production in the Intermediate and Lowland Zones of Tanzania,Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics 32(April 2000):35-47.Google Scholar
Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station (KAES) and Cooperative Extension Service (CES). “Kansas Performance Tests with Winter Wheat Varieties.” Manhattan, KS: Kansas State University, Various years.Google Scholar
Kansas Weather Library. Internet site: http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/wdl/wdl/pmaps.htm (Accessed June 2007).Google Scholar
Kansas Wheat Commission. Wheat Facts: Classes. Internet site: http://www.kswheat.com/general (Accessed June 2007).Google Scholar
LIMDEP. Version 8.0. Econometric Software, Inc.: William Greene, 2002.Google Scholar
Nalley, L.L., Barkley., A., and Chumley, F.G. The Agronomic and Economic Impact of the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station Wheat Breeding Program, 1977-2005. Manhattan, KS: Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, Report of Progress 948, June 2006.Google Scholar
Reitz, L.P.Short Wheats Stand Tall.” USDA, Science for Better Living: Yearbook of Agriculture 1968(Washington: GPO, 1968):236-39.Google Scholar
Reitz, L.P., and Salmon, S.C.The Origin, History, and Uses of Norin 10 Wheat.Crop Science 8(November 1968):686-89.Google Scholar
Richards, T.J., and Green, G.Economic Hysteresis in Variety Selection,Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics 35(April 2003): 114.Google Scholar
Traxler, G., Falck-Zepeda, J., Ortz-Monasterio, J.I., and Sayre, K.Production Risk and the Evolution of Varietal Technology.American Journal of Agricultural Economics 77(February 1995): 17.Google Scholar
United States Department of Agriculture. National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA/NASS). Internet site: http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Kansas/index.asp (Accessed March 2006).Google Scholar
United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2008. Inflation Calculator. Internet site: http://www.bls.gov/cpi/. (Accessed April 2008).Google Scholar
White, H.A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Co-variance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity.Econometrica 48(May 1980):817-38.Google Scholar