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Published online 1 September 1975
Published in Agron J 67:794-798 (1975)
© 1975 American Society of Agronomy
677 S. Segoe Rd., Madison, WI 53711 USA
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Yield Response to Soil Warming: Economic Feasibility1

W. E. Schimisseur, L. Boersma and K. A. Rykbost2

The development potential of soil warming with power plant waste heat is evaluated and major determinants to development are identified by evaluating the economic feasibility of producing selected crops by soil warming. Yield responses to soil warming were identified from a series of test plot experiments. Crop values and soil warming production costs are specific to Willamette Valley, Ore., in 1973. The capital cost of a soil warming installation consisting of 5.08 cm diameter PVC pipes buried 90 cm deep at 183 cm centers with supply lines and pumps was estimated to be $8,213/ha. The annual amortization would be $847 or $l,242/ha at interest rates of 10 and 15%. Additional operating and maintenance costs would result in total annual costs of $927 or $l,407/ha at opportunity costs of 10 and 15%.

Only high value crops could be profitably produced using soil warming. The economic potential of the proposed production technique is limited by the high capital cost of the installation. This potential could be improved by decreasing installation costs through the use of wider spacings, by selection of crop cultivars more responsive to soil warming, and by accepting lower interest rates on the invested capital.

Key Words: Waste heat • Soil warming costs • Soil temperature

1 Contribution from the Dep. of Agric. and Resource Econ. and Soil Sci., Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR 97331. Technical paper no. 3954, Oregon Agric. Exp. Stn.

2 Assistant professor, Dep. of Agric. and Resource Econ.; professor and graduate research assistant, Dep. of Soil Sci., respectively.

Received for publication November 25, 1975.




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Journal of Natural Resources
and Life Sciences Education		 Soil Science Society of America Journal
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Environmental Quality		 The Plant Genome
Copyright © 1975 by the American Society of Agronomy.