Fertilizer Use in the United States: Its Economic Position and Outlook

D. B. Ibach

No 307304, Agricultural Economic Reports from United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service

Abstract: Excerpts from the report Summary: General advances in farm technology will continue to increase crop yield responses to fertilizer. In 1960-64, farmers received a return of about $2. 50 per dollar spent for fertilizer. At these rates, the value of product added through use of a ton of NPK was equal to the value of crops produced on 9.4 acres of cropland (acreage on which crops were harvested, plus failure and cultivated summer fallow). Thus, for the United States as a whole, as long as a ton of NPK costs less than all operating costs (including fertilizer) for 9.4 acres, alternative levels of total production could be obtained more cheaply by using more fertilizer and less land. As fertilizer application rates are increased, other things equal, the added crop value per unit of application declines. Had rates been increased by an amount necessary to bring the added return per dollar of added fertilizer cost to $2, the 1960-64 level of crop production could have been obtained from 80 million fewer acres than the 339 million used for crops during that period.

Keywords: Crop Production/Industries; Productivity Analysis; Resource/Energy Economics and Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28
Date: 1966-05
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:uerser:307304

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.307304

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