Dryland Agriculture in Winter Precipitation Regions of the World: Status of the Technical Art

摘要

Drylands are more than exclusively cereal producing regions. Farmers grow both cereals and forage for livestock with the mix dependent upon relative prices and values of cereals and livestock, as well as cost and availability of production inputs. Relatively abundant and cheap labor may tilt the balance in favor of livestock production. Viewed in another way, technologies and crop rotations which assign importance to forage and livestock production may stand a better change of succeeding because they will employ more of the available resources than alternatives which concentrate on cereal production to the exclusion of livestock. Furthermore, combined operations can be expected to benefit smaller farms where labor tends to be most abundant.