Conservation
Economics of Cover Crops
It is critical for cover crop advocates to understand that cover crops cannot be scaled up to mainstream agriculture if the practice does not at least break-even in the short term. Given the potential short term losses if cover crop management is poor, cover crop advocates should not expect farmers to massively adopt cover crops solely based on their long-term effects on soil and water quality.
Economics of Switchgrass
Most studies on the economic potential of perennial biofuel crops have concluded that even high-yielding bioenergy grasses are unprofitable compared to corn/soybeans, but did not account for opportunities precision agriculture presents to integrate perennials into underperforming parts of corn/soybean fields. So, where can switchgrass production be more profitable than corn and soybean? This research is an integrated subfield assessment in Iowa, USA.