AN ECONOMIC RISK ANALYSIS OF WEED-SUPPRESSIVE RICE CULTIVARS IN CONVENTIONAL RICE PRODUCTION

Abstract

AbstractWeed-suppressive rice cultivars have the potential to reduce heavy reliance on synthetic herbicides in rice production. However, the economics of using weed-suppressive rice cultivars in conventional rice systems have not been fully evaluated. This study uses simulation and stochastic efficiency with respect to a function to rank weed-suppressive and weed-nonsuppressive rice cultivars under alternative herbicide intensity levels based on their certainty equivalents mapped across increasing levels of absolute risk aversion. The results indicate risk-averse rice producers would prefer to grow weed-suppressive cultivars using less herbicide inputs than what would be used to grow weed-nonsuppressive rice cultivars.