Che, Yuyuan

Corn and soybean seeding rates in the United States have diverged. We develop a theoretical model of seeding rate choices considering a resource budget trade-off between seeds and resources per seed. Using extensive farm-level data, we find soybean rates are more own-price elastic than corn. Soybean rates would decrease by 1.7% more than corn, with a 1% increase in seed-to-crop price ratio. More land-embodied inputs increase both rates, while more seed-embodied inputs increase corn rates but decrease soybean rates. The difference in price elasticities due to plant architecture has implications for both economic surplus division from innovations and ecological policy outcomes.