Economic Impacts of Termination Timing for Irrigation and Plant Bug Control

1. Economic Impacts of Termination Timing for Irrigation and Plant Bug Control Juan Monge* Diana M. Danforth* Tina Gray Teague** Mark J. Cochran* J. L. Lund** T. J. Sangepogudavid** *Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville **Department of Entomology, University of Arkansas at Arkansas State University

2. Introduction

3. Problem Statement • Circumstances • Pest pressure: Bugs – 535,326 cotton bales • Constant draught: Worst in 20 years • Rising energy prices • Achieve appropriate earliness • Consequences • Frequent irrigation and insecticide application • Higher production costs

4. Objectives • Determining if longer periods of irrigation and insecticide control reward producers through: • Higher yields • Fiber attribute values • Profits • Establishing economically profitable termination guidelines based on crop maturity

5. Data Sources and Methods

6. Experimental Design • Yield and fiber quality data • Three-year experiment at U of A Lon Mann Cotton Research Station • Designed as a split plot • Main plot: Irrigation termination (5 levels) • Rainfall in 2005 and 2006 • Sub plot: Insect control termination (4 levels)

7. Experimental Design

8. Experimental Design • Nodes Above White Flower (NAWF) • Monitored using COTMAN • HVI fiber quality determinations • International Textile Center at Texas Tech University • More technical information: • Teague et al. (2005) • Danforth et al. (2006)

9. Lint Values • Market adjust the price of cotton • 2004, 2005 and 2006 CCC loan schedules • Micronaire, color/leaf grade, fiber length, uniformity and strength • Base loan rate: • 52.00 cents per pound

10. Irrigation and insecticide costs • Irrigation costs • Furrow irrigation • $7.96 per acre per application • Insecticide costs • Applied with a 60-foot John Deer Hi-Boy • $1.04 per acre • Insecticide prices are constant

11. Irrigation and insecticide costs

12. Statistical analysis • Variables analyzed using ANOVA for the different irrigation and insect control treatments • Yields (lbs/acre) • Lint values ($/lb) • Profits ($/acre) • Mean separation – Fisher’s Least Significant Difference

13. Results

14. 2004 experiment

15. Irrigation termination 2004

16. Insect control termination 2004

17. 2005 experiment

18. 2006 experiment

19. Irrigation termination 2006 *Termination at NAWF=5 + 166 DD60s is equivalent to NAWF=5 + 366 DD60s because of rainfall.

20. Insect control termination 2006

21. Conclusions

22. Problem Statement • Insect control termination • NAWF = 5 + 280 DD60s • Yield and profits did not increase beyond 280 DD60s • COTMAN guideline (350 DD60s) can economically be applied to tarnished plant bug • Irrigation termination • NAWF = 5 + 360 DD60s • Yield and profits did not increase beyond 360 DD60s • Irrigation termination based on COTMAN monitoring is feasible

23. Acknowledgments

24. Questions