RISK EFFICIENT CHOICE OF BEAN WINTER-WHEAT ROTATION, COVER CROP, AND TILLAGE SYSTEM ON LIGHT TEXTURED SOILS

The variability of net returns associated with alternative cropping sy stems available to farmers is important for crops grown on light textu red soils. Crop productivity, and possibly profitability, can be incre ased and the risk of either may be reduced through the use of cover cr ops and conservation tillage in rotation systems. Using a stochastic d ominance approach this study determined the risk efficient cropping sy stem for three bean winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) rotation syste ms in southern Ontario on Fox sand soils composed of 85% sand. The thr ee beans in this study were soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.], white be an (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and kidney bean (P. vulgaris L.). Within ea ch rotation five treatments were examined. One was a conventional till age treatment and the other four were no-till systems differentiated b y the choice of cover crop. Among the three bean-wheat rotations, kidn ey bean-wheat systems ranked first followed by white bean-wheat rotati ons, while soybean-wheat rotation systems were the least preferred by risk averters. Within each bean-wheat rotation, no-till treatments gen erally dominated the conventional tillage alternative. Under risk aver se conditions kidney bean-winter wheat with no-till corn (Zea mays L.) cover was the most profitable by approximately $4/acre and the prefer red choice across all 15 crop rotation systems.