Impacts of terrain attributes on economics and the environment: costs of reducing potential nitrogen pollution in wheat production

Authors

Cory Walters, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
C. Richard Shumway, Washington State University
David R. Huggins, USDA, Agricultural Research Service

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2017

Citation

Agricultural Economics 48 (2017) 143–152

Comments

Copyright 2017 International Association of Agricultural Economists

This document is a U.S. government work and is not subject to copyright in the United States.

DOI: 10.1111/agec.12321

Abstract

The economic cost of achieving desired environmental outcomes from uniform and variable rate fertilizer application technologies depends both on market forces and agronomic properties. Using spatial econometric methods, we analyze the impact of nitrogen fertilizer supply by terrain attribute on the yield and protein content of hard red spring wheat grown in EasternWashington as well as the impact on residual nitrogen.We find significant association with all three. The economic impact of nitrogen restrictions depends critically on both prices and level of the restriction. Uniform application of nitrogen was found to economically outperform variable rate application, but variable rate application provided positive environmental benefits due to less residual nitrogen.