FROM THE MANAGER
Dear members
& patrons
A
s we wrote about in
our Summer/Fall 2015
edition, this year will
go down as one of our
row crop producers’
worst financially.
Yields were down significantly and prices
were below break even in most cases. There
were areas and fields that experienced good
yields, but most corn, sorghum and cotton
yields were bad. This, coupled with extremely high input costs and low prices for
our commodities, spells significant loss in
equity for most of our producers. What can
we do for the next growing season? Number
one is hope for better weather conditions.
The extremely wet early growing season
pushed back ideal planting dates and kept
early fields drenched. Much of our nitrogen
fertilizers were leached out of reach of our
crops’ root systems. This was followed by a
severe drought as cotton was trying to set
and hold fruit and grain was pollinating and
later trying to produce grain. Number two
is putting the right inputs on the right acres.
With prices at current levels, producers cannot count on blanket shots of fertilizer, seed
and ag chemicals doing the right job without
consistent monitoring of soil fertility and
production records on every acre farmed.
Most agronomy companies provide grid
sampling to know where deficiencies are on
producers’ fields. This allows producers to
apply variable rates of seed and fertilizer to
maximize yield and control input expenses.
Most harvest equipment now can produce
yield maps, which can be overlaid on grid
sampling to find areas of production problems. This can be addressed and formulas
blended and applied at variable rates to
administer the seed and nutrients based on
production history.
Why feed and plant acres that are not
capable of increasing production? Putting
inputs at the same rate across all acres drives
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up cost of production if there is not significant return for each dollar of input used. As
a cattle rancher would say, why feed a calf
that will not fatten up? It’s like throwing dollars away.
Number three fix is knowing your true cost
of production, estimating your average yield
and therefore knowing what price to react to
and contract your grain when those criteria
are met. Keep that number in mind prior to
and during the whole production year. If you
intend to farm next year, also look fo ȁ