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ARS Home » Plains Area » Mandan, North Dakota » Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #120077

Title: A COMPUTER PROGRAM TO ASSIST SAFFLOWER PRODUCERS.

Author
item Krupinsky, Joseph
item Tanaka, Donald
item FEHMI, JEFFREY - US ARMY ENG RES & DEV CTR
item Merrill, Stephen
item Hendrickson, John
item Ries, Ronald
item Liebig, Mark
item Wright, Sara
item Hanson, Jonathan

Submitted to: International Safflower Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/7/2001
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: A computer program entitled "Crop Sequence Calculator" is designed to help producers assess safflower production and the potential returns of growing safflower as part of a diverse cropping system among with other crops. By typing in expected crop prices and expected loan deficiency payments provided by the USDA Farm Service Agency, rapid calculations of potential returns are shown. The program contains summary information on crop production, plant diseases, weeds, crop water use, and surface soil properties to aid producers in their evaluation of management risks associated with different crop sequences. By selecting the "More Info" buttons adjacent to each summary, photographs, graphs, and additional information are easily accessed. For example, additional information for plant diseases includes an introduction to plant diseases, information on the plant disease triangle and management for plant disease risks, websites sfor additional plant disease information, and photographs of plant disease on safflower to aid in their identification. The program automatically starts by inserting the CD-ROM in your computer and runs directly from the CD-ROM. This eliminates the need for additional computer disk space or installation procedures. The program is designed for computers running Windows (R) (3.1/95/98/ME/NT/2000).

Technical Abstract: A computer program entitled "Crop Sequence Calculator" is designed to help producers assess safflower production and the potential returns of growing safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) as a component in a diverse cropping system with other crops. Expected crop prices and expected loan deficiency payments (LDP) can be input to provide rapid calculations of potential returns. The program contains summary information on crop production, plant diseases, weeds, crop water use, and surface soil properties to aid producers in their evaluation of management risks associated with different crop sequences. By selecting the "More Info" buttons adjacent to each summary, graphs, photos, and additional information are easily accessed. For example, additional information for plant diseases includes an introduction to plant diseases, information on the plant disease triangle and management for plant disease risks, websites for plant disease information, and photographs of plant diseases on safflower to aid in thei identification. The user-friendly program runs directly from a CD-ROM eliminating the need for additional disk space or installation procedures. The program is designed for computers running Windows (R) (3.1/95/98/ME/NT/2000) and works best with a screen area of 800 X 600 pixels or greater.