Premium
Land Quality, Irrigation Development, and Cropping Patterns in the Northern High Plains
Author(s) -
Lichtenberg Erik
Publication year - 1989
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 - 10.2307/1241787
Subject(s) - cropping , irrigation , quality (philosophy) , land use , land development , crop , agricultural economics , agroforestry , agriculture , geography , environmental science , economics , agronomy , ecology , forestry , biology , philosophy , archaeology , epistemology
This article examines the interactions between land quality, crop choice, and technological change using a framework that integrates cross‐sectional and intertemporal aspects of diffusion. The empirical results indicate that ( a ) the acreages allocated to different crops vary significantly over land quality, ( b ) crops tend to be grown on specific ranges of land quality, ( c ) the introduction of center pivot technology induced significant changes in cropping patterns, ( d ) land quality‐augmenting technologies tend to be utilized primarily on lower qualities of land, and ( e ) irrigation development has been quite sensitive to tax policies.