Energy requirements and economic analysis of wheat, rice and barley production in Australia

The study examines the energy consumption, energy input-output relationship and benefit/cost ratio of wheat, rice and barley crop production system in Coleambally Irrigation Areas (CIA) and Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA) of New South Wales, Australia. The values of all energy inputs and output were converted to energy farm. Economic analysis was performed for each crop. Results revealed that chemical fertilizer consumed 47, 43 and 29 % of the total energy inputs on wheat, rice and barley growing farms, respectively. Wheat consumed 3028, rice 6699 and barley consumed 2175 kWh ha^-1. Similarly, wheat utilized 2852, rice 17754 and barley 856 m^3 ha^-1. Average energy output of wheat was 27874, rice 44885, and barley obtained 17865 kWh ha^-1. Wheat was most energy efficient crop compared to rice and barley, whereas barley achieved the highest water productivity. Cost of production on wheat crop was 323, rice 896 and barley was A$ 246 ha^-1. Rice grower obtained the highest return of A$ 2088, as compared to wheat and barley growers, who obtained A$ 589 and 370 ha^-1. Therefore, the benefit-cost ratio was the highest on rice farms (3.33) as compared to wheat (2.82) and Barley (2.50).