Alternative Forms for Production Functions of Irrigated Crops

The output elasticities of irrigation water are high inelastic for every crop, indicating that reductions in water supply would have relatively small effects on crop production. This article reports estimates of Cobb-Douglas and quadratic production functions for 13 irrigated crops in the 17 Western States Returns to scale, the output elasticity of irrigation water, and the marginal rate of substitution between water and land are estimated for each crop J-tests, used to test statistically which, if either, functional form is a correct specification, do not reject the Cobb-Douglas specification for four crops (barley, grain sorghum, potatoes, and rice) and do not reject the quadratic specification for three crops (cotton, dry beans, and potatoes).