With a reduced gross income and increased 

 costs, it seems doubtful that the production of 

 wheat on benches could be profitable, except 

 possibly under the most favorable circum- 

 stances. There is a possibility, however, that 



further experiments with cultural treatments 

 or varieties may show yield increases of more 

 than 6 bushels per acre, or there may be im- 

 provements in operating efficiency which could 

 make the practice profitable. 



FACTORS INFLUENCING THE ADOPTION OF LEVEL BENCHES 



The foregoing analysis shows that using 

 level benches for alfalfa production is poten- 

 tially profitable to a farmer, providing he has 

 a market for the hay or he needs it for live- 

 stock feed. This seems true for any farmer 

 who has land similar to that on which experi- 

 ments have been conducted. However, there 

 are very few instances of farmers having 

 adopted benches either in North Dakota or in 

 any adjoining State. 



Terracing, Contour Farming, 

 and Stripcropping 



Terracing, contour farming, and strip- 

 cropping are conservation practices some- 

 what similar to level benches insofar as 

 their appeal to farmers is concerned. The 

 three practices represent three levels of 

 intensity in conservation farming and three 

 levels of cost. A system of stripcropping can 

 be installed with little or no capital expendi- 

 ture, and the operating costs are but little 

 more than they would be for large rectangular 

 fields. The use of large-scale machinery is 

 just as practical on stripcropping as on any 

 other field layout. The potential returns from 

 stripcropping are limited, as the principal 

 benefit is protection against wind erosion. 

 Stripcropping, as such, has little effect on 

 water conservation, and little or none on 

 water erosion control. 



Contour farming is an intermediate prac- 

 tice. The installation cost may range from neg- 

 ligible to a substantial amount, depending on 

 the kind of terrain and irregularity of slope. 

 The contours need to be accurately staked with 

 surveying instruments, and the cultivation pat- 

 tern has to be carefully established. Operating 

 costs are higher than they would be for rec- 

 tangular fields because there are likely to be 

 a number of odd-shaped areas which require 

 excessive turning. 



Terracing is the most intensive of the 

 three conservation practices, involving large 

 expenditures for installation and significant 

 increases in operating costs. Level benches 

 are similar to terraces in this respect, and in 

 addition have some operating problems not 

 common to other types of terraces. 



A brief examination of the geographic 

 distribution of these practices may indicate 

 the rate of adoption that might be expected for 

 level benches. For terracing, financial assist- 

 ance in the form of cost-sharing payments 

 have been available to farmers under both the 

 Agricultural Conservation Program (ACP) of 

 ASCS and the Great Plains Conservation Pro- 

 gram (GPCP) of SCS. Despite this, there have 

 been relatively few terraces installed in North 

 Dakota. In the past 4 years, the total area 

 served by terraces installed under the ACP 

 was 429 acres (table 10). In contrast, there 

 were 965,000 acres served by terraces in 

 Kansas and 527,000 acres in Nebraska in the 

 same period. 



Some terraces have been constructed in 

 North Dakota under the GPCP, but the total 

 amount is small compared with other States. 

 Back and Kasal assert that the combined 

 cost-sharing expenditure for standard ter- 

 races, diversion terraces, and sod waterways 

 in 1958-66 was about $220,000 in North Dakota, 

 compared with $1.6 million in Kansas, $1.8 mil- 

 lion in Nebraska, and $2.8 million in Texas. 



For contour farming and stripcropping, 

 more complete data are available from the 

 U.S. Census of Agriculture (21). In North 

 Dakota in 1964, there were 192,000 acres of 



1 3 Back, W. B„ and Kasal, James, unpublished re- 

 search information relating to a study of the Great Plains 

 Conservation Program. 



14 



