Date of Award
May 2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Economics
Committee Member
John Chastain
Committee Member
David Willis
Committee Member
Lisha Zhang
Abstract
This thesis evaluates the profitability of a standard commercial inorganic fertilization practice vis-à-vis the following three alternative fertilization options: i) a broiler litter only fertilization scenario ii) a 2-tons per acre broiler litter annually plus supplementary commercial inorganic fertilization scenario, and iii) a 2-tons per acre broiler litter applied every other year plus supplementary commercial inorganic fertilizer. Furthermore, the likely environmental impact of each practice was evaluated. The representative farm is a 1,000-acre row crop farm in the Upper Coastal region of South Carolina, with a corn-wheat-soybean cropping sequence. Each cropping sequence required two years for completion, and a total of 5 sequences were evaluated for all four fertilization practices.
The most profitable option evaluated was the broiler litter only fertilization practice. This option however, resulted in excess nutrients carry over especially for phosphorus over the 10-year study period. Moreover, findings are consistent with previous literature that a more profitable and environmentally efficient crop production level can be achieved by using a combination of broiler litter and commercial inorganic fertilizer. Mean NPV estimates for the four practices were compared, by evaluating their respective 95% confidence intervals and no statistically significant difference between the 2-tons per acre broiler litter annually plus supplementary commercial inorganic fertilization practice, and the 2-tons per acre broiler litter applied every other year plus supplementary commercial inorganic fertilizer was observed. The 2-ton broiler litter/acre on corn only and supplementary inorganic commercial fertilizer had the least nutrient carry-over over the 10-year study. All three proposed alternatives had better on-farm input cost efficiency compared to the standard commercial inorganic fertilizer only practice.
Recommended Citation
Adigun, Oluwasegun Daniel, "Evaluating the Economic Effects of Using Broiler Litter as an Alternative Fertilizer for a Corn-Wheat-Soybean Cropping Sequence in South Carolina" (2020). All Theses. 3260.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/3260