Soil Carbon Sequestration Strategies with Alternative Tillage and Nitrogen Sources under Risk |
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Authors: | Dustin L Pendell Jeffery R Williams Scott B Boyles Charles W Rice Richard G Nelson |
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Institution: | Dustin L. Pendell is an assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at Colorado State University.;Jeffery R. Williams is a professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University.;Scott B. Boyles is a former graduate research assistant in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University.;Charles W. Rice is a professor in the Department of Agronomy at Kansas State University.;Richard G. Nelson is Department Head and Director, Engineering Extension Programs at Kansas State University. |
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Abstract: | This study examines the economic potential of using either no-tillage or conventional tillage with either commercial nitrogen or cattle manure to sequester soil in continuous corn production. This research uses stochastic efficiency with respect to a function to determine the preferred production systems under various risk preferences and utility-weighted certainty equivalent risk premiums to determine the carbon credit values needed to motivate adoption of systems, which sequester higher levels of carbon. The results indicate that no-tillage and cattle manure increase carbon sequestration. Carbon credits or government program incentives are not required to entice risk-averse managers to use no-tillage, but are required to encourage manure use as a means of sequestering additional carbon even at historically high nitrogen prices. New environmental rules for confined animal feeding operations may increase the demand for land to apply manure as a primary nutrient source and participation in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Conservation Security Program, and a carbon credit market to obtain payments to offset some or all of the costs of manure application. |
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