Effects of climatic and price uncertainty on the value of legume crops in a Mediterranean-type environment
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-23-1999
Journal Title
Agricultural Systems
ISSN
ISSN 0308-521X eISSN 1873-2267
Keywords
Legume crops, Climate, Price, Mediterranean climate, Model of an Uncertain Dryland Agricultural System (MUDAS), Chickpeas, Wheat, Sandy loam soils, Narrow-leafed lupins, ryland farming
Disciplines
Agribusiness | Agricultural Economics | Agricultural Science | Agronomy and Crop Sciences | Plant Biology
Abstract
This study investigates the impact of price and yield uncertainty on the value of new legumes and their place in a Mediterranean region of Western Australia. It uses the stochastic bioeconomic farming system Model of an Uncertain Dryland Agricultural System (MUDAS) to integrate climatic, agronomic and economic information. A robust finding is that chick peas in rotation with wheat on some clayey loam soil classes are a profitable addition to optimal farm plans, increasing the certainty equivalence of profit on a typical farm by 7%. By contrast, modelling results for field peas and faba beans suggest they are likely to form a minor role in the farming system, being occasionally selected under certain price and weather-year conditions. Modelling results highlight a farmer's attitude to risk and the proportion of the farm area with suitable soils as important determinants of the role and value of the new legumes in the farming system. These findings, if supported by further investigations, have important implications for breeding and agronomic research.
Recommended Citation
S.G.M Schilizzi, R.S Kingwell, Effects of climatic and price uncertainty on the value of legume crops in a Mediterranean-type environment, Agricultural Systems, Volume 60, Issue 1, 1999, Pages 55-69, ISSN 0308-521X, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0308-521X(99)00018-9.
