Crops > Costs & Returns > Analysis
Updated February, 2023
File A1-87
Budgeting Tool to Evaluate Alternative Approaches to Weed Management
The purpose of this budgeting tool is to evaluate the long-run costs of farming practice changes to manage weed resistance in Harrison County, Iowa. The tool allows the user to identify the current or “baseline” scenario for a given farm and then simulate the 10-year impact of alternative changes on weed pressure, costs, and profits.
The tool incorporates extensive feedback from the Harrison County Pest Resistance Management Project Team on current practices, costs, and potential farming practice changes specific to Harrison County. While the user has the ability to change some of the underlying parameter values, default values were generated in consultation with the Harrison team.
This tool was developed in partial fulfillment of the USDA AFRI grant (2018-09138) "Assessment of the Socio-Economic Factors Impacting Adoption of Voluntary Pest Resistance Management by Rural Communities." The accompanying User Guide provides detailed instructions for completing the budgeting tool. The handout from a recent presentation by the authors illustrates the tool using an example case study.
Alejandro Plastina, extension economist, plastina@iastate.edu, 515-294-6160
Alicia Rosburg, associate professor of economics and provost's fellow for sustainability, University of Northern Iowa, alicia.rosburg@uni.edu
Michael Witt, field agronomist, Iowa State University, witt@iastate.edu
