Economie analysis of alternative cropping systems for a bean/wheat rotation on light-textured soils

Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) has been the predominant cash crop grown on sandy soils of southern Ontario, but the area cropped has fallen significantly with the decline in tobacco demand. Crops such as beans and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) are technically feasible alternatives, but their yields have been highly variable. Cover crops and conservation tillage are approaches that may increase the productive capacity of sandy soils while reducing the environmental impact of present production systems. In this study, yields, costs and net returns of three bean-winter wheat cropping systems were evaluated under conventional tillage and four variations of no-till systems differentiated by the type of cover crop. The three beans considered were soybeans (Glycine max L. Merr.), white beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and kidney beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Average yields of the three beans grown under conventional tillage were consistently lower than those of the four no-till treatments, but the differences were significant in only a few years. Total production cost for the bean crops was $96 ha−1 lower for the no-till treatments than for conventional tillage. Average net returns for the rotation involving kidney beans were approximately $100 ha−1 higher than those involving white beans and $330 ha−1 higher than soybeans. Conventional tillage produced the lowest net returns within each of the bean/wheat rotations. Key words: Conventional tillage, no-till, bean, net returns