Q: What key financial decisions do I need to make about crop production and protection?
A: Going into the 2023 growing season, you may be thinking, what are the key financial decisions I need to make around crop production and protection?
This question is one of the most important every year for crop planning. There are many factors to be considered about what crops you will grow. Aside from geographic factors such as soil type, rainfall and growing degree days, financial planning is a big consideration with crop prices and crop inputs being the main factors.
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Fixed costs such as land, equipment, taxes and hired help should be well known to each producer. Variable costs that revolve around the risks of producing and protecting each crop can change drastically each year and must be carefully considered when planning your rotation.
Below are some variable costs to think about.
Seed treatments
Diseases are common in most crops at the seedling stage, so be sure to find out which ones are common in your area. Insects come and go over the years, so ask other growers and agronomists what you may need to watch out for. Knowing this will help you gauge how much to spend.
Fertilizer
Soil testing some of your acres will help you make the best fertility decisions. I wouldn’t recommend cutting back on fertilizer as an overall farm decision, but rather move some of your budget around to spend less on fields that may be less productive or are on rented land and put your investment into higher-producing acres.
Using fertilizer inhibitors or slower release products should also be considered, even though they cost a little more per acre — fertilizer efficiency goes up and prevents overfertilization.
Disease protection
Many areas of the Prairies for the last few years have been dry. However, no matter which crop you are growing, you must always look at the disease potential, especially with current grain prices, and make sure you know your economic threshold.
Two underutilized metrics you can use to help with economic planning are combine harvest data and field trials.
I have given the same advice to my customers for many years, which is, “grow what you know.” If you are comfortable and successful growing wheat, canola and peas in a proper rotation, then don’t be enticed by a hot chickpea price for a year on a large number of acres. You may not have the proper equipment or environment to make those snap decisions work well. You know your operation best, and I hope this helps you achieve your ultimate yield in 2023.
– Trent Dorrance, PAg, CCA, is the manager of agronomic solutions in southeast Saskatchewan for Nutrien Ag Solutions.
