Economic Impacts of Termination Timing for Irrigation and Plant Bug Control Juan Monge* Diana M. Danforth* Tina Gray Teague** Mark J. Cochran* J. L. Lund** T. J. Sangepogudavid** *Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville **Department of Entomology, University of Arkansas at Arkansas State University

Introduction

Problem Statement Circumstances Pest pressure: Bugs – 535,326 cotton bales Constant draught: Worst in 20 years Rising energy prices Achieve appropriate earliness Consequences Frequent irrigation and insecticide application Higher production costs

Objectives Determining if longer periods of irrigation and insecticide control reward producers through: Higher yields Fiber attribute values Profits Establishing economically profitable termination guidelines based on crop maturity

Data Sources and Methods

Experimental Design Yield and fiber quality data Three-year experiment at U of A Lon Mann Cotton Research Station Designed as a split plot Main plot: Irrigation termination (5 levels) Rainfall in 2005 and 2006 Sub plot: Insect control termination (4 levels)

Experimental Design

Nodes Above White Flower (NAWF) Monitored using COTMAN HVI fiber quality determinations International Textile Center at Texas Tech University More technical information: Teague et al. (2005) Danforth et al. (2006)

Lint Values Market adjust the price of cotton 2004, 2005 and 2006 CCC loan schedules Micronaire, color/leaf grade, fiber length, uniformity and strength Base loan rate: cents per pound

Irrigation and insecticide costs Irrigation costs Furrow irrigation $7.96 per acre per application Insecticide costs Applied with a 60-foot John Deer Hi-Boy $1.04 per acre Insecticide prices are constant

Irrigation and insecticide costs

Statistical analysis Variables analyzed using ANOVA for the different irrigation and insect control treatments Yields (lbs/acre) Lint values ($/lb) Profits ($/acre) Mean separation – Fisher’s Least Significant Difference

Results

2004 experiment

Irrigation termination 2004

Insect control termination 2004

2005 experiment

2006 experiment

Irrigation termination 2006 *Termination at NAWF= DD60s is equivalent to NAWF= DD60s because of rainfall.

Insect control termination 2006

Conclusions

Problem Statement Insect control termination NAWF = DD60s Yield and profits did not increase beyond 280 DD60s COTMAN guideline (350 DD60s) can economically be applied to tarnished plant bug Irrigation termination NAWF = DD60s Yield and profits did not increase beyond 360 DD60s Irrigation termination based on COTMAN monitoring is feasible

Acknowledgments

Questions