The Economics of Annual Legume and Double Legume Cover Cropping in Southern Minnesota

Using historical data from crop producing farms in southern Manitoba, this study quantifies the economic savings that could be realized by using legumes to supply nitrogen in a cereal-oilseed based rotation. Stochastic budgets are developed for four alternative crop rotations and the returns associated with each are evaluated using the utility-based risk ranking methods of stochastic dominance and stochastic efficiency. It is found that including a legume cover crop in a cereal-oilseed based rotation can reduce the amount of nitrogen required by a subsequent crop and in turn increase the net returns associated with the complete crop rotation.