ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF CONVENTIONAL INTENSIVE AND PRECISION FARMING TECHNOLOGIES

Abstract

In Lithuania, besides the usual farming technologies, starting precision agriculture (PA). The basic principle of the PA is to focus technological operations on the conditions located in separate field locations. When there in separate fields is a significant difference in the amount of nutrients in the soil, the distribution of weeds or diseases, then the crop fertilization and maintenance operations must be precisely adapted to these differences. Most importantly, these differences in soil and crops can be captured and converted into correspondingly differentiated instructions for agricultural machinery. This ensures the timely use of appropriate material resources, helps to optimize yields at the lowest cost, reduce environmental pollution and increase economic returns.

The purpose of this study is to perform a comparative analysis of economic indicators for spring wheat cultivation by using a usual intensive and PA technologies, and to determine the financial effect. Novelty of this study are the new approach and new method for financial effect calculations in Lithuania, they can lead to future deeper analysis of money return related with PA technologies.

The tests for a year 2014-2015 was carried out on A. Bardauskas farm in Raseiniai district, and in year 2016 on ASU testing station in Kaunas district. Economic indicators of spring wheat cultivation by using conventional intensive and precision farming (PA) technologies was determined, i.e. additional cost-benefit effect was calculated and the financial effect generated. Underlying research shows that better economic indicators are obtained through the using of PA technology. It was determined that the cost of mineral fertilizers during spring wheat cultivation in accordance with the PA technology was lower in the two analyzed years and slightly higher in one year than the conventional intensive agricultural technology.
The decline in fertilizer costs also led to a decrease in yield, which resulted in less incomes for one year from precision farming than the use of conventional intensive agricultural technology, and received a negative financial effect. In the other two years of analysis, additional revenues from spring wheat cultivation with PA technology exceeded the additional costs related with this technology and received a positive financial effect. Due to the reduced yield, the incomes for precision farming in 2014 were 41.6 Eur/ha less, and in 2015 and 2016, respectively, 12.8 Eur/ha and 30.58 Eur/ha higher than for the conventional intensive farming technology

Keywords: Conventional and precision agriculture, spring wheat, economic evaluation, financial effect

Article DOI: http://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2017.081