Abstract
Abstract With its potential for high yields and high animal output, lucerne appears to be an underexploited crop in British agriculture. In this paper an attempt is made to assess the prospects for expansion of the area of lucerne in Britain from an economic viewpoint, concentrating on lucerne as a conservation crop. Under good management lucerne is shown to have lower production costs than grass and its inclusion in the diet of dairy cows, but not beef cattle, could significantly lower winter feed costs. However, under apparently similar growing conditions, lucerne yields on different farms vary significantly, ranging from 9 to 13 t dry matter ha −1 a −1 . At the lower yields, the economic attraction of growing and feeding lucerne in place of grass is small. Moreover, since potential lucerne production is concentrated in the south and east of Britain, lucerne competes with other arable crops. For lucerne to offer a gross margin per unit area comparable with these, the price for conserved lucerne would have to be set at a level at which dairy farmers would derive little economic advantage from feeding it. Thus, although lucerne is a forage crop with some potential, at present it is likely to offer economic possibilities only where producers can combine high yields with on‐farm utilization of the crop.
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The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 8
Claim · model-written summary
Well managed lucerne had lower production costs than grass.
- Taxon
- lucerne
Medicago sativae0 - Outcome
- production costse0
- Direction
- lowere0
- Qualifier
- Under good managemente0
- Comparator
- grasse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Under good management lucerne is shown to have lower production costs than grass”
Claim · model-written summary
Feeding lucerne could significantly lower dairy cow winter feed costs.
- Taxon
- lucerneMedicago sativat0
- Outcome
- winter feed costse0
- Direction
- lowere0
- Qualifier
- dairy cowse0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“its inclusion in the diet of dairy cows, but not beef cattle, could significantly lower winter feed costs”
t0“lucerne”
Claim · model-written summary
Lucerne inclusion did not lower winter feed costs for beef cattle.
- Taxon
- lucerneMedicago sativat0
- Outcome
- winter feed costse0
- Qualifier
- beef cattlee0
Not reportedComparatorDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“its inclusion in the diet of dairy cows, but not beef cattle, could significantly lower winter feed costs”
t0“lucerne”
Claim · model-written summary
Lucerne yields differed significantly among farms, ranging from 9 to 13 t dry matter ha −1 a −1.
- Taxon
- lucerneMedicago sativae0
- Outcome
- yieldse0
- Value
- 9 to 13 t dry matter ha −1 a −1e0
- Setting
- different farmse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“lucerne yields on different farms vary significantly, ranging from 9 to 13 t dry matter ha −1 a −1”
Claim · model-written summary
At lower yields, replacing grass with lucerne had little economic attraction.
- Taxon
- lucerneMedicago sativae0
- Outcome
- economic attractione0
- Direction
- smalle0
- Qualifier
- At the lower yieldse0
- Comparator
- grasse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“At the lower yields, the economic attraction of growing and feeding lucerne in place of grass is small”
Claim · model-written summary
Lucerne production is concentrated in southern and eastern Britain.
- Taxon
- lucerneMedicago sativae0
- Outcome
- potential lucerne productione0
- Setting
- south and east of Britaine0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“potential lucerne production is concentrated in the south and east of Britain”
Claim · model-written summary
A conserved lucerne price giving a comparable gross margin to arable crops would leave dairy farmers little feeding advantage.
- Taxon
- lucerneMedicago sativae0
- Outcome
- economic advantagee0
- Direction
- littlee0
- Qualifier
- the price for conserved lucerne would have to be set at a levele0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the price for conserved lucerne would have to be set at a level at which dairy farmers would derive little economic advantage from feeding it”
Claim · model-written summary
Lucerne is likely economically viable only with high yields and on-farm use.
- Taxon
- lucerneMedicago sativat0
- Outcome
- combine high yields with on‐farm utilization of the crope0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“it is likely to offer economic possibilities only where producers can combine high yields with on‐farm utilization of the crop”
t0“lucerne”