Department of Agricultural Economics
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Browsing Department of Agricultural Economics by Subject "Agricultural conservation -- Riversdale (South Africa)"
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- ItemContinuous cash crop rotation systems under full CA principles for the Riversdale winter cereal production area(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-03) Kooper, Paulus; Hoffmann, Willem H.; Strauss, Johann A.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Agricultural Economics.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The challenge for South African and world agriculture in general, is to produce food for more people with less arable land. The negative impact of global warming is undeniable and competition for limited natural resources has increased dramatically. It is therefore necessary to replace conventional farming practises with sustainable agricultural practises. Conservation Agriculture (CA) is a holistic approach to sustainable agriculture based on three related principles namely: minimum soil disturbance, maximum soil cover, and crop rotation. After the deregulation of the South African agricultural sector in the 1990s, South African farmers began practising crop rotation to counter the risk associated with the liberalised market. The benefits of CA are site-specific and vary from soil to soil. Thus trial data from the Riversdale experimental farm was used to evaluate the financial implication of different crop rotation systems under full CA practises over the long run. To ensure that both institutional and economic environments that drive whole farm profitability are accommodated, research into mixed crop-livestock systems are region and country-specific and no universal fact exists. One of the specific objectives of this study was to determine how the continuous cash crop systems under full CA principles compare financially with traditional crop-pasture systems for the Riversdale area on a whole farm level. The multi-faceted, complex, interconnected synergies of the farm system were incorporated in the present study through the systems approach, specifically a typical farm approach. Approximately nine stakeholders in the Riversdale production region were engaged through a multidisciplinary focus group discussion. Disciplines represented during the group discussion were agronomy, agricultural economics, soil sciences, and producers. Each stakeholder contributed to the group discussion with unique, intricate information about their specific fields. Typical whole farm budgets for alternative crop rotation systems for the Riversdale production area were constructed using Microsoft excel spreadsheet programmes. Whole farm modelling in excel spreadsheets enabled the modeller to integrate the knowledge of multidisciplinary experts within the multi-period budgets. The components of the whole farm budgets are interconnected and changes in one component impacts the profit of the whole farm system. The whole farm profitability for different crop rotation systems in the Riversdale area was measured based on the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and the Net Present Value (NPV). The traditional crop-pasture rotation system (LLLLLWBCWB) is the most profitable rotation system for the Riversdale area over a random 20 year period with an expected IRR of 5.39 per cent. The continuous cash crop rotation systems, specifically the WBC and WC rotation systems, are more profitable than the traditional crop-pasture rotation system when wheat prices are R3590/ton or more. The traditional crop-pasture rotation system is also more resilient to changes in output and input prices, while the continuous cash crop rotation systems are highly volatile to fluctuating external elements.