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SC MN | Couple thoughts for your area North of Devils lake-
Specialty crops may look good on paper but what happens when reality hits (poor quality, lack of markets, extra management required, etc). If you’re on year 2 of farming you need cash flow and a crop celebrating a single or multiple birthdays in the bin or discounted heavily doesn’t set you up for success.
I applaud you for thinking outside the box , maybe try 5-10% of your acres with something new to get the hang of it first. What about edible beans, barley or corn as other options ? I’d skip the mustard and just stick with canola. You mentioned canola seed costs are high, can you cut back the seeding rate? When I worked up there years ago the standard seeding rate was 5#/ac but the larger operators were seeding at 4-4.5#/ac with no yield reduction and I think it could be reduced further.
You also mentioned trying to bushel your way out of a problem. While big yields have big revenue , big yields don’t always have big profit if your expenses get out of hand. Are you using any yield mapping or variable rate technology to manage your inputs? Not every acre will produce 70 bu wheat and 40 bu beans so why would you fertiiize the whole field like that , great tool to reduce your fertilizer bill. Have you talked with your banker/lender/agronomist/consultant/landlord about any areas that can get “trimmed” since margins are tight? | |
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Crops and Insanity
