Costs for alternative grain-residue-collection systems
Abstract
The costs for systems for corn and soybean production in Iowa are examined. All machinery field operations, fuel, other inputs, and labor requirements are identified for the base case with no residue harvest, and for residue harvest by stacks and large round bales, with the owner's equipment and for custom harvest. These five cases were developed for corn and soybeans for conventional and reduced tillage practices. Harvesting alternatives are compared on the basis of costs, fuel input requirements, and gross energy balances of residues collected less energy inputs. The cost of collecting corn and soybean residues varies widely over the collection and tillage systems examined. Other effects constant, the reduced tillage practice leads to a lower cost of harvest than conventional tillage, and stacks are always cheaper than large round bales; however, the former difference is greater than the latter.
- Publication:
-
NASA STI/Recon Technical Report N
- Pub Date:
- June 1981
- Bibcode:
- 1981STIN...8212633F
- Keywords:
-
- Biomass;
- Organic Wastes (Fuel Conversion);
- Residues;
- Cost Estimates;
- Energy Sources;
- Fuel Production;
- Energy Production and Conversion