RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 A half century of yield growth along the forty-first parallel of the Great Plains
JF Land Economics
JO Land Econ
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 041421-0039R2
DO 10.3368/le.99.4.041421-0039R2
A1 Federico J. Trindade
A1 Lilyan E. Fulginiti
A1 Richard K. Perrin
YR 2023
UL http://le.uwpress.org/content/early/2023/04/13/le.99.4.041421-0039R2.abstract
AB We examine a half-century of crop yield growth along an 800-mile transect in the U.S. Great Plains. The main contributors to growth were non-specific technical change +53%, irrigation +26%, fertilizer +13% and chemicals +10%. Environmental changes were small and had a minor impact. The wide range of agroclimatic conditions produced significant sub-regional deviations. Irrigation was important in the more arid and warmer areas of the west, while fertilizer and chemicals were more important in the humid east. Sensitivity to weather has increased in the rainfed regions of the east while it has decreased in irrigated regions of the west.