AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF LEVEL BENCH 

 SYSTEMS FOR FORAGE PRODUCTION IN NORTH DAKOTA 



by Wallace McMartin, 1 Howard J. Haas, 2 and Wayne O. Willis, 2 



INTRODUCTION 



Level bench systems have more than dou- 

 bled the yields of forage produced on slopes in 

 the Northern Great Plains. Benches of this 

 type were first introduced in the United States 

 for study by the Agricultural Research Service 

 (ARS) in 1955, but they have been used for 

 centuries in other countries (23). 3 Benches 

 differ from conventional terraces in that the 

 channels are much wider, are level in all 

 directions, and are diked at the ends and at 

 the front (downslope side) to give them more 

 water storage capacity than conventional ter- 

 races (fig. 1). Some level bench systems are 

 built with an unterraced area above each 

 bench. This is called the "contributing area" 

 because it is intended to contribute runoff 

 water to the bench. Level benches are built 

 primarily for water conservation, and they 

 serve the same purpose as conventional ter- 

 races in controlling soil erosion. 



In the Northern Great Plains, research 

 on level benches has been done at Mandan, 

 N. Dak. (9, 10), at Sidney, Mont. (1), and at 

 Newell, S. Dak/ In the Central and South- 

 ern Great Plains, work has been done in 

 Nebraska (2), Colorado (18), Kansas (6), and 

 Texas (U) but the results are somewhat dif- 

 ferent, partly because of differences in climate 

 and partly because the benches in these areas 

 are constructed primarily for conservation of 



runoff from summer rainfall. In the Northern 

 Plains, the principal benefit of benches is 

 realized from trapping snow and holding the 

 snowmelt in place until the water infiltrates. 

 A few farmers in various sections of the 

 Northern Great Plains have used standard and 

 parallel terraces. Both types are normally 

 built mainly for erosion control, though they 

 serve to a limited extent as a means of wa- 

 ter conservation. Level benches for irriga- 

 tion have been used extensively in western 

 Nebraska (7) and have been studied experi- 

 mentally in South Dakota. They have also been 

 used for erosion control in Iowa (14). 



Some of the results of the research con- 

 ducted under this arrangement are already 

 available. A study of irrigation practices was 

 completed and published as a North Dakota 

 experiment station bulletin (17). Another study 

 showing the value of water for forage pro- 

 duction was completed and the results were 

 submitted to North Dakota State University as 

 a master's thesis (16). Other studies relating 

 to water management are nearing completion 

 at South Dakota State University. Further re- 

 search is in varying stages of completion at 

 several locations. 



This study analyzes the economic aspects 

 of level benches. First, estimates were made 



Agricultural Economist, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, stationed at Fargo, 

 N. Dak. 



2 Research Soil Scientist, Soil and Water Conservation Research Division, Agricultural Research Service, 

 U.S. Department of Agriculture, Northern Great Plains Research Center, Mandan, N. Dak. 



3 Underscored numbers in parentheses refer to items in the Bibliography, p. 17. 



Unpublished data, 1966-68, Newell Irrigation and Dryland Field Station, ARS, USDA, Newell, S. Dak. 



