Excerpts: The study reported here deals with the costs and returns of seeding cropland to grass in the eastern Colorado wheat area north of the Arkansas River. In this semiarid plains area, approximately two-fifths of the land is under cultivation and three-fifths is in pasture. Since 1929, the acreage of cultivated land here has increased from 2.8 million to 4.2 million acres. The objectives of the study were to: (1) Learn the costs of seeding cropland to grass under various situations; (2) find the minimum average yield per seeded acre of wheat that would cover the costs of crop production with given prices; and (3) estimate the dollar returns from cropland when seeded to grass, with and without Government assistance. Information as to the cost of seeding grass and the returns from grazing was obtained from experiment station trials, Government land in land use projects, and farmers. Using this basic information, the comparative advantages and disadvantages of seeding cropland to grass were explored and evaluated.
