@article{McMartin:338895,
      recid = {338895},
      author = {McMartin, Wallace  and Haas, Howard J. and Willis, Wayne  O.},
      title = {An Economic Analysis of Level Bench Systems for Forage  Production in North Dakota},
      address = {1970-03},
      number = {1485-2023-1253},
      series = {Conservation Research Report No. 14},
      pages = {30},
      year = {1970},
      note = {This report presents partial results of research studies  on the economics of agricultural water management.  The  studies were conducted jointly by the Natural Resource  Economics Division, Economic Research Service, and the Soil  and Water Conservation Division, Agricultural Research  Service, USDA; South Dakota State University; and North  Dakota State University. },
      abstract = {Excerpts from the report Introduction:  Level bench  systems have more than doubled the yields of forage  produced on slopes in the Northern Great Plains.  Benches  of this type were first introduced in the United States for  study by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in 1955,  but they have been used for centuries in other countries.   Benches differ from conventional terraces in that the  channels are much wider, are level in all directions, and  are diked at the ends and at the front (downslope side) to  give them more water storage capacity than conventional  terraces (fig. 1).  Some level bench systems are built with  an unterraced area above each bench.  This is called the  ''contributing area" because it is intended to contribute  runoff water to the bench.  Level benches are built  primarily for water conservation, and they  serve the same  purpose as conventional terraces in controlling soil  erosion.  This study analyzes the economic aspects of level  benches.  First, estimates were made of their profitability  for the individual farmer, compared with conventional  farming methods for land with similar soil and topography.   Factors affecting the adoption of benches by farmers were  examined, and estimates were developed of the potential  land area on which benches would be economically feasible  and otherwise desirable in a representative North Dakota  county.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/338895},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.338895},
}