Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T22:04:48.245Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Sources of Productivity Growth During the Transition to Alternative Cropping Systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2016

Edward C. Jaenicke
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology at The University of Tennessee
Laurie E. Drinkwater
Affiliation:
Rodale Institute in Pennsylvania
Get access

Abstract

Traditional measures of productivity growth may not fully account for all sources of growth during the transition from conventional to alternative cropping systems. This paper treats soil quality as part of the production process and incorporates it directly into rotational measures of productivity growth. An application to data from an experimental cropping system in Pennsylvania suggests that both experimental learning and soil-quality improvements were important sources of growth during the system's transition.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrews, R.W., Peters, S.E., Janke, R.R., and Sahs, W.W. 1990. “Converting to Sustainable Farming Systems.” In Francis, C.A., Flora, C.B., and King, L.D., eds. Sustainable Agriculture in Temperate Zones. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Arshad, M.A., and Coen, G.M. 1992. “Characterization of Soil Quality: Physical and Chemical Criteria.” Amer. J. of Alternative Agriculture 7: 2531.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ball, V.E., Bureau, J.-C., Nehring, R., and Somwaru, A. 1997. “Agricultural Productivity Revisited.” Amer. J. Agr. Econ. 79: 10451063.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Banker, R.D. 1996. “Hypothesis Tests Using Data Envelopment Analysis.” Journal of Productivity Analysis 7: 139159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Banker, R.D. 1993. “Maximum Likelihood, Consistency and Data Envelopment Analysis: A Statistical Foundation.” Management Science 39: 12651273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Batie, S.B., and Swinton, S.M. 1994. “Institutional Issues and Strategies for Sustainable Agriculture: View from Within the Land-Grant University.” Am. J. of Alternative Agriculture 9(Nos. 1 and 2): 2327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bender, J. 1994. Future Harvest: Pesticide-free Farming. Lincoln, NE: Univ. of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Benjamin, D. 1995. “Can Unobserved Land Quality Explain the Inverse Productivity Relationship?Journal of Development Economics 46: 5184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bhalla, S.S. 1988. “Does Land Quality Matter?Journal of Development Economics 29: 4562.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bhalla, S.S., and Roy, P. 1988. “Mis-Specification in Farm Productivity Analysis: The Role of Land Quality.” Oxford Economic Papers 40: 5573.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burgess, J.F., and Wilson, P.W. 1993. “Technical Efficiency in Veterans Administration Hospitals.” In Fried, H.O., Lovell, C.A.K., and Schmidt, S.S., eds, The Measurement of Productive Efficiency. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Caves, D.W., Christensen, L.R., and Diewert, W.E. 1982. “The Economic Theory of Index Numbers and the Measurement of Input, Output, and Productivity.” Econometrica 50: 13931414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chambers, R.G. 1988. Applied Production Analysis: A Dual Approach. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Chambers, R.G., and Lichtenberg, E. 1995. “Economics of Sustainable Farming in the Mid-Atlantic.” Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Maryland. Final Report to the USDA/EPA ACE Program.Google Scholar
Cook, R.J. 1991. “Challenges and Rewards of Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education.” In Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education in the Field: A Proceedings, Board on Agricutlture, National Research Council. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Crosson, P.R. 1983. Productivity Effects of Cropland Erosion in the United States. Washington, DC: Resources For the Future.Google Scholar
Culik, M.N. 1983. “The Conversion Experiment: Reducing Farm Costs.” J. of Soil and Water Conservation 38: 333335.Google Scholar
Dabbert, S., and Madden, P. 1986. “The Transition to Organic Agriculture: A Multi-year Simulation Model of a Pennsylvania Farm.” Am. J. of Alternative Agriculture 1: 99107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diewert, W.E. 1976. “Exact and Superlative Index Numbers.” J. of Econometrics 4: 115145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doran, J.W., and Parkin, T.B. 1994. “Defining and Assessing Soil Quality.” In Doran, J.W., Coleman, D.C., Bezdicek, D.F., and Stewart Madison, B.A., eds, Defining Soil Quality for a Sustainable Environment: SSSA Special Publication Number 35. WI: Soil Science Society of America.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faeth, P., Repetto, R., Kroll, K., Dai, Q., and Helmers, G. 1991. Paying the Farm Bill: U.S. Agricultural Policy and the Transition to Sustainable Agriculture. Washington, D.C.: World Resources Institute.Google Scholar
Färe, R. 1988. Fundamentals of Production Theory. New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Färe, R., Grosskopf, S., Lindgren, B., and Roos, P. 1994. “Productivity Developments in Swedish Hospitals: A Malmquist Output Index Approach.” In Charnes, A., Cooper, W.W., Lewin, A.Y., and Seiford, L.M., eds, Data Envelopment Analysis: Theory, Methodology, and Applications. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers.Google Scholar
Färe, R., Grosskopf, S., and Lovell, C.A.K. 1994. Production Frontiers. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Färe, R., Grosskopf, S., and Roos, P. 1995. “Productivity and Quality Changes in Swedish Pharmacies.” Int'l. Journal of Production Economics 39: 137147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frye, W.W., and Thomas, G.W. 1991. “Management of Long-Term Field Experiments.” Agronomy J. 83: 3844.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griliches, Z. 1963. “The Sources of Measured Productivity Growth: U.S. Agriculture, 1940-1960.J. Pol. Econ. 71: 331346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grosskopf, S. 1996. “Statistical Inference and Nonparametric Efficiency. A Selective Survey.” Journal of Productivity Analysis 7: 161176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanson, J.C., Lichtenberg, E., and Peters, S.E. 1997. “Organic Versus Conventional Grain Production in the Mid-Atlantic: An Economic and Farming Systems Overview.” Am. Journal of Alternative Agriculture 12: 29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanson, J.C., Johnson, D.M., Peters, S.E., and Janke, R. 1990. “The Profitability of Sustainable Agriculture on a Representative Grain Farm in the Mid-Atlantic Region, 1981-89.Northeastern J. of Ag. and Res. Econ. 19: 9098.Google Scholar
Ikerd, J., Monson, S., and Van Dyke, D. 1993. “Alternative Farming Systems for U.S. Agriculture New Estimates of Profit and Environmental Effects.” Choices (Third Quarter):3738.Google Scholar
Janke, R.R., Pleasant, J. Mt., Peters, S.E., and Böhlke, M. 1991. “Long-Term, Low-Input Cropping Systems Research.” In Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education in the Field: A Proceedings, National Research Council. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Jorgenson, D.W., and Griliches, Z. 1967. “The Explanation of Productivity Change.” Rev. Econ. Studies 34: 249283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karlen, D.L., and Stott, D.E. 1994. “A Framework for Evaluating Physical and Chemical Indicators of Soil Quality.” In Doran, J.W., Coleman, D.C., Bezdicek, D.F., and Stewart, B.A. Madison, eds, Defining Soil Quality for a Sustainable Environment: SSSA Special Publication Number 35. WI: Soil Science Society of America.Google Scholar
Kennedy, A.C., and Papendick, R.I. 1995. “Microbial Characteristics of Soil Quality.” Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 50: 243248.Google Scholar
Larson, W.E., and Pierce, F.J. 1994. “The Dynamics of Soil Quality as a Measure of Sustainable Management.” In Doran, J.W., Coleman, D.C., Bezdicek, D.F., and Stewart, B.A. Madison, eds, Defining Soil Quality for Sustainable Environment: SSSA Special Publication Number 35. WI: Soil Science Society of America.Google Scholar
Lee, L.K. 1992. “A Perspective on the Economic Impacts of Reducing Agricultural Chemical Use.” Am. J or Alternative Agriculture 7: 8288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leibenstein, H., and Maital, S. 1992. “Empirical Estimation and Partitioning of X-Inefficiency: A Data-Envelopment Approach.” Amer. Econ. Rev. 82: 428433.Google Scholar
Lockeretz, W. 1991. “Information Requirements of Reduced-Chemical Production Methods.” Am. J. or Alternative Agriculture 6: 97103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lovell, C.A.K. 1993. “Production Frontiers and Productive Efficiency.” In Fried, H.O., Lovell, C.A.K., and Schmidt, S.S., eds, The Measurement of Productive Efficiency. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
MacRae, R.J., Hill, S.B., Henning, J., and Bentley, A.J. 1990. “Policies Programs, and Regulations to Support the Transition to Sustainable Agriculture in Canada.” Am. J. of Alternative Agriculture 5(2): 7692.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magdoff, F. 1992. Building Soils for Better Crops: Organic Matter Management. Lincoln, NE: Univ. of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
National Research Council. 1993. Soil and Water Quality: An Agenda for Agriculture. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
National Research Council. 1989. Alternative Agriculture. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Pierce, F.J., Dowdy, R.H., Larson, W.E., and Graham, W.A.P. 1984. “Soil Productivity in the Corn Belt: An Assessment of Erosion's Long-Term Effects.” Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 39: 131143.Google Scholar
Power, J.F.Legumes: Their Potential Role in Agricultural Productivity.” Am. J. of Alternative Agriculture 2: 6973.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Putman, J., Williams, J., and Sawyer, D. 1988. “Using the Erosion-Productivity Impact Calculator (EPIC) Model to Estimate the Impact of Soil Erosion for the 1985 RCA Appraisal.” Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 43: 321326.Google Scholar
Romig, D.E., Garlynd, M.J., Harris, R.F., and McSweeney, K. 1995. “How Farmers Assess Soil Health and Quality.” Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 50: 229236.Google Scholar
Sahs, W.W., and Lesoing, G. 1985. “Crop Rotations and Manure Versus Agricultural Chemicals in Dryland Grain Production.” Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 40: 511515.Google Scholar
Sampath, R.K. 1992. “Farm Size and Land Use Intensity in Indian Agriculture.” Oxford Economic Papers 44: 494501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shephard, R.W. 1970. Theory of Cost and Production Functions. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Smolik, J.D., Dobbs, T.L., and Rickerl, D.H. 1995. “The Relative Sustainability of Alternative, Conventional, and Reduced-Till Farming Systems.” Am. J or Alternative Agriculture 10: 2535.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steiner, R.A. 1995. “Long-Term Experiments and Their Choice for the Research Study.” In Barnett, V., Payne, R., and Steiner, R., eds, Agricultural Sustainability: Economic, Environmental and Statistical Considerations. New York: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Tauer, L.W., and Hanchar, J.J. 1995. “Nonparametric Technical Efficiency with K Firms, N Inputs, and M Outputs: A Simulation.” Agricultural and Resource Economics Review 24: 185189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, D.J., and Young, D.L. 1986. “The Effect of Technical Progress on Erosion Damage and Economic Incentives for Soil Conservation.” Land Economics 62: 8393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xu, F., and Prato, T. 1995. “Onsite Erosion Damages in Missouri Corn Production.” J. of Soil and Water Conservation 50: 213316.Google Scholar