Masters Theses

Date of Award

6-1988

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Agricultural Economics

Major Professor

John R. Brooker

Committee Members

Darrell Mundy, Bob Jenkins

Abstract

One of the most critical decisions that a vegetable producer must make is the scheduling of planting and harvesting dates. V/hile many factors affect this scheduling process, air temperature is by far the most important. Late spring and early fall freezes can be devastating to vegetable crops. Since temperature in the field cannot be controlled by vegetable producers, they must schedule around the occurrence of freezing temperatures. To recognize the risks of freezing temperatures, producers should have access to various temperature probabilities.

The purpose of this study was to use temperature data to assist Tennessee vegetable growers in the decision making process pertaining to crop selection, succession cropping, and alternative planting or harvesting dates.

The data employed in this study were the daily high and low temperatures recorded at 75 weather collection stations in Tennessee. Isothermal maps of Tennessee that display temperature probability patterns were constructed. Additionally, isothermal maps of Tennessee that display heat unit accumulation patterns were constructed. The average number of calendar days required to accumulate targeted heat unit totals were ascertained and analyzed.

The timing of production to enter certain market windows and/or to capture economies of production associated with sequential cropping may force producers to incorporate the risk of temperature-related crop damage into their farm management decisions. Findings in this study suggest that a substantial amount of extra freeze risk may be necessary to capture seasonally higher prices.

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