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Farm Level Economics of Soil Conservation in the Palouse Area of the Northwest
Author(s) -
Burt Oscar R.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
american journal of agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.949
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1467-8276
pISSN - 0002-9092
DOI - 10.2307/1239814
Subject(s) - topsoil , cropping , agriculture , soil conservation , organic farming , production (economics) , organic matter , environmental science , agroforestry , agricultural engineering , economics , agricultural economics , agricultural science , mathematics , agronomy , geography , soil water , soil science , ecology , engineering , biology , microeconomics , archaeology
Control theory is applied to the farm level economics of soil conservation in a model which uses depth of topsoil and percentage of organic matter therein as the two state variables. An approximately optimal decision rule was tested against the optimal rule and found to be excellent; errors in the decision rule were less than one percent within the region in state space of practical consideration. Results suggest that intensive wheat production under modem farming practices and heavy fertilization is the most economic cropping system in both the short and long run in the Palouse Area except under low wheat prices.