SUMMARY 



The use of level benches can more than 

 double alfalfa production, increase brome- 

 grass yield by almost 75 percent, and increase 

 wheat yields by 5 or 6 bushels per acre over 

 the yields produced on natural slopes. The 

 increased yields are largely the result of the 

 benches' ability to hold snow and snowmelt 

 water. Benches, though similar to terraces, 

 are much wider, level overall, and diked at 

 the ends and front. 



Not enough benches are in actual farm 

 use to provide cost and return data. Limited 

 tests and experience elsewhere show that cost 

 of bench construction is mainly affected by 

 width of bench and complexity of slope. The 

 cost per acre for construction may range from 

 $25 for the narrowest benches on the gen- 

 tlest slopes to $353 for 70-foot benches on 

 10-percent slopes. 



Operating costs would be higher on a level 

 bench system than on a natural slope, because 

 each bench and its contributing area (anunter- 

 raced area above the bench), if there was one, 

 would be treated as a single field for harvest- 

 ing and other operations. However, data on the 

 increase in costs are fragmentary and some 

 of the values were estimated. 



For alfalfa production, gross returns for 

 level bench systems increase as the slope 



decreases, because less land is occupied by 

 dikes and backslopes. The resulting net re- 

 turns decrease uniformly as the slope in- 

 creases. On the more gentle slopes — 1 or 

 2 percent — the width of bench has little effect 

 on net returns. On the steeper slopes, the 

 wider the bench the lower the net returns. 

 In fact, negative net returns would be encoun- 

 tered with wide benches on slopes. On 1- and 

 2-percent slopes, the net returns for benches 

 without contributing areas range from about 

 $900 to $1,300 per 100 acres, while for 

 benches with 1:1 contributing areas, the re- 

 turns range from $590 to $769. 



While detailed estimates of costs and 

 returns were made only for alfalfa, results 

 for both bromegrass and pasture grasses 

 should be similar. Wheat, on the other hand, 

 would probably not be much more profitable 

 on benches than on natural slopes, and very 

 few farmers could be induced to convert wheat- 

 land to level benches for alfalfa production. 



In the Dakota s, stripcropping is fairly 

 widely adopted. Contour farming is also prac- 

 ticed, but on a more modest scale. In both 

 cases these are the easiest and least expensive 

 conservation and erosion control practices. 

 Terracing is seldom practiced in South Dakota 

 and rarely in North Dakota. 



