Rice–soybean rotations: opportunities for enhancing whole farm profits or water savings Michael Popp a, * , Patrick Manning b,1 , Paul Counce c,2 , Terry Keisling d,3 a Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, 217 AGRI Building, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA b Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, 220 Agriculture Building, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA c Department of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences, Rice Research and Extension Center, 2900 Hwy 130E, University of Arkansas, Stuttgart, AR 72160, USA d Department of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences, University of Arkansas, HC 69, P.O. Box 51, Rover, AR 72860, USA Received 11 June 2003; received in revised form 2 September 2004; accepted 13 September 2004 Abstract The objective of this paper is to examine the impacts of terminating rice [Oryza sativa] irri- gation earlier than usual. One straightforward result of this would be the associated cost sav- ings ($10 ha 1 per irrigation or more with deep wells) without placing a value on the water itself. However, another option exists for some farms. An assumption is that the typical farm will be constrained from irrigating all of the soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr] crop due to con- straints in any or all of water supply, pumping capacity, and labor availability. In these cases, a portion of the land in soybean production would be non-irrigated for the first part of the growing season. This study explores the possibility of transferring irrigation water to the 0308-521X/$ - see front matter Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.agsy.2004.09.008 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 479 575 6838; fax: +1 479 575 5306. E-mail addresses: mpopp@uark.edu (M. Popp), pmanning@uark.edu (P. Manning), pcounce@uark. edu (P. Counce), terry.keisling@uark.edu (T. Keisling). 1 Tel.: +1 501 575 5226. 2 Tel.: +1 870 673 2661. 3 Tel.: +1 479 272 2301. www.elsevier.com/locate/agsy Agricultural Systems 86 (2005) 223–238 AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS