Analysis of Energy Indicators of Dry Farming Wheat Production in Northwest of Iran

Majority of past research on agricultural product production is related with irrigated areas. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the energy use pattern in wheat production planted as dry farming in Northwest of Iran. Initial data were collected by means of questionnaires from farmers and agricultural experts in the area. Energy use efficiency indices, net energy, specific energy, energy productivity, energy intensiveness and the total input of energy and total output were computed. Analysis of the total input energy showed that fuel and chemical fertilizer had the highest energy consumption, and the seeds, labor work and chemical pesticides had the lowest energy consumption in wheat production. Energy use efficiency and energy productivity of 1.79 and 0.748 kg·mJ⁻¹ were obtained, respectively. The total input and output energy were 33927.61 and 60803.81 MJ·ha⁻¹, respectively.