Agricultural Systems: management and performance

1
Agricultural Systems management and performance

• College of Agriculture
• Iowa State University

2
What is the Agricultural Systems initiative?

• Science based research program
• Focuses on spatial and temporal variability and
  interactions between field and watershed
  components
• eeking profitable olution to future problem
• Uses water quality as an environmental indicator
  of system function

3
Why have the initiative?

• Iowa agriculture a dichotomy
• Excellent climate for agriculture production
• Excellent soils
• Worlds best agriculture infrastructure
• Highly educated farm industry
• Well developed markets
• Industry dependent on government payments for
  survival and natural resource maintenance

4
Financial factors

• Most Iowa farmers
• Buy inputs from the same supplier
• Manage with the same cookbook
• Sell to the same market
• Compete for land
• gt 50 of Iowas farmland is rented
• Land prices are investment and government program
  influenced

5
Land Tenure
Farmland Ownership and Tenure in Iowa 1982-2002
A twenty-year perspective. 2004. Iowa State
University Extension PM 1983.
6
Change in Iowa Cropland Rental Rates
Iowa Farmland Rental Rates, 1992 2002. 2002.
Iowa State University Extension. FM 1728.
7
Future Financial Factors

• Subsidy programs likely
• Green payments
• Development of prime agricultural land
  internationally
• Relatively inexpensive international prime
  farmland
• Lower environmental expectations for
  international competitors
• Supply Demand Commodity Price

?
8
Bioeconomy

• Commodity demand
• Commodity price
• Land price/rental rate
• Farmer profit
• Natural resource stress on farmer owned and
  managed land
• Natural resource stress on farmer rented land

9
The Crystal Ball Suggests

• If the current market structure remains, i.e.
  main farm products are sold for food and feed, we
  must improve production system efficiency to
  remain financially and environmentally solvent.
• If a bioeconomy dominates the combined impact of
  rented land and biomass harvest may require
  substantial policy and/or regulation
  considerations beyond that of today.
• Policy that increases farmer owned/farmer managed
  land seems increasingly critical.

10
Initiative Goal

• Utilize spatially and temporally variable
  landscape components to improve system
  performance, improving both profitability and
  environmental quality.

11
Initiative Issues

• Agroecosystem mapping
• Potential crops database
• Multiple use/multiple function
• Temporal and spatial management
• Watershed design

12
Vision

• Utilize landscape variability and complimentary
  biological interactions to maximize profitability
  and environmental service of farming systems.