This empirical paper investigates how duration of conservation tillage (CT) usage affects farmers’ perceptions on production cost, cash crop yields, and economic returns. This paper was based on the analysis of responses from 708 surveys completed by South Dakota farmers in 2018. Our results suggest that it takes between 5 and 10 years before CT is regarded as profitable by the majority of adopters. The likelihoods of adoption and positive outcomes are higher in areas with less precipitation. Adoption subsidies should account for agro-climatic characteristics and decrease with duration of usage. In areas with relatively high rainfall, monetary incentives may be required to encourage CT adoption. However, such inducements may only need to be offered for the first several years of adoption before the beneficial effects of CT render them unnecessary.

中文翻译：

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使用时间和农民报告的保护性耕作的好处

这篇实证论文调查了保护性耕作 (CT) 使用的持续时间如何影响农民对生产成本、经济作物产量和经济回报的看法。本文基于对南达科他州农民在 2018 年完成的 708 份调查的答复的分析。我们的结果表明，大多数采用者认为 CT 需要 5 到 10 年的时间才能实现盈利。在降水较少的地区，采用的可能性和积极成果更高。收养补贴应考虑到农业气候特征，并随着使用时间的延长而减少。在降雨量相对较高的地区，可能需要采取货币激励措施来鼓励采用 CT。然而，在 CT 的有益效果使它们变得不必要之前，可能只需要在采用的最初几年提供此类诱因。