Economical Considerations for Conservation Tillage

Field trials were conducted from 2003 to 2008 at the Stiles Farm Foundation in Thrall, TX to assess the economics of No-Till, Strip-Till and Conventional Tillage farming practices. These trials evaluated the yields and net profits of each practice for several different crop rotations.

CORN/CORN ROTATION
No-Till - Yield 87.62 bu/ac - Net Profit $73.76
Strip Till - Yield 93.79 bu/ac - Net Profit $80.81
Conventional - Yield 93.70 bu/ac - Net Profit $57.09

COTTON/CORN ROTATION
No-Till - Yield 78.14 bu/ac - Net Profit $37.37
Strip-Till - Yield 85.02 bu/ac - Net Profit $47.31
Conventional - Yield 79.35 bu/ac - Net Profit $(-6.91)

CORN/COTTON ROTATION
No-Till - Yield 574.4 #/ac - Net Profit $13.80
Strip-Till - Yield 629.3 #/ac - Net Profit $36.20
Conventional - Yield 678.0 #/ac - Net Profit $19.04

SORGHUM/COTTON ROTATION
No-Till - Yield 649 #/ac - Net Profit $67.67
Strip-Till - Yield 691 #/ac - Net Profit $73.94
Conventional - Yield 737 #/ac - Net Profit $77.29

COTTON/SORGHUM ROTATION*
No-Till - Yield 4739 #/ac - Net Profit $103.10
Strip-Till - Yield 5025 #/ac - Net Profit $112.17
Conventional - Yield 5228 #/ac - Net Profit $110.67

*5 years data due to sorghum blown down in windstorm in 2005