Technical response functions for corn -- an economic analysis of nitrogen fertilizer experiments
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"The main objective of this study is to estimate corn response functions for nitrogen and plant population using experimental data in three counties of Missouri. These response functions will be used in two ways: (a) to determine some economic criterion such as profits, use of nitrogen, variances in expected returns, etc. under different conditions; and (b) to compare farmers' use of nitrogen to the criterion developed in part (a) to suggest hypotheses about farmers' behavior and to determine whether farmers are irrational in the direction of over-use or in the direction of under-use of the nitrogen input. To accomplish this objective data from a series of experiments will be used to derive annual and average production functions for each of the three counties where the experiments were located. To avoid the consequences of one set of environmental conditions and to obtain more general results experiments were repeated by the Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station during the period 1961-1969 (Colyer, 1969; Colyer and Kroth, 1968, 1970). Economic analysis of the estimated production functions with certainty and uncertainty analyses including annual optima, minimum variance, and minimum cost input combinations, expected profit and price sensitivity analyses should indicate what farmers would be doing under different conditions if they were economically rational. Then, actual nitrogen use will be estimated for the same period in each county. Results such as amount of nitrogen, expected profits, variances in expected profits, and variable costs will be compared with the results obtained from experimental data in Boone, Grundy and Saline counties. These comparisons will enable us to decide whether farmers are over or under using the nitrogen. Locational differences in resource use, if any, will be analyzed. Finally, overall results will be evaluated from the pollution standpoint in a more general economic framework."--Introduction.
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