Many, if not most, farmers with soybeans are hard at it with harvest. There’s even a fair amount of corn combined. What looked like a fall when things might go into October quite green from the late summer rains sure turned drier in a hurry.
Those of you in the combine seat, have you been watching the yield monitor? That’s the most “duh” question in the world, right? Any one of us would be watching that, it’s almost like enjoying a game on the TV, especially when what we register are the top scores. Oh, sure we see the low numbers, but especially in a year where the overall yield for the field is good to great, how long do the low numbers resonate in our brain? I would say about as long as they would last in a goldfish.
Then there are the areas that hold more salt than crop, we aren’t wasting our time running the combine over them. If we would, the monitor would register a big fat zero. So, I think it’s important to ask ourselves, are we thinking about those zeros, are we thinking about those areas that yield below the break even, especially in good price years? What about this year with high input costs, but lower prices, shouldn’t those areas be more magnified than ever?
When it comes to saline (alkali) it can be easy to dismiss it as only affecting the areas that look like a salty desert with no plant life. Watching the yield monitor will tell you otherwise. The areas surrounding the barren area are salty too, they just aren’t to the level that isn’t allowing germination….. yet.
What is a head scratcher to me in this age of seeking efficiency using technology as the main tool to achieve it, that there aren’t 10 different companies offering software programs (I will not call them AI) that analyze fields for profitability. There are many that will offer fertility analysis, using yield data as a way to offer fertility recommendations for next year’s crop. First off, I challenge that these recommendations are valid in a saline landscape or in perhaps any landscape, as this is treating all land equal.
All soils are not equal even if they are the same soil type there are varying levels of different elements and micro-organisms that can inhibit or promote the intake of our nutrients. I definitely feel we can be more efficient and use less nutrients when needed and more of them if deficient, but many of the studies done by our land grant universities are showing that we are rarely under-applying our major fertility nutrients. The amount we are over-applying can be quite alarming. When I say alarming, I’m not saying from a tree hugger mentality, I’m saying it from a holy crap that’s a lot of money down the drain, especially when those studies are showing over-application of more than twice the amount needed to reach the yield goal stated. Like I mentioned not too long ago we are fertilizing enough for 300-bushel corn when 175 bushels is a tall order for many of us.
If we were to somehow get the fertility software to be accurate and help increase yield, it’s still just an increase in yield. Yield is not profit. Profit is not yield. They are synonymous for sure but they are not exclusive to each other. So, what these software programs are not doing is asking first the question of should we? Should we even farm these areas? A profit analysis program will answer the “should we” question with actual real numbers. You will not only be able to see what areas are unprofitable but also the degree to which you are losing your backside on them. I have, I think, a pretty solid theory that we can tell a producer over and over they are losing money on their marginal acres, and it doesn’t really have the light bulb go off until you see $300 with a negative in front of it. Then color code the map with those areas in red and it becomes real clear. Does such a thing exist, dang right it does, and here’s the kicker, it’s free.
The Every Acre Counts program has been around for several years now, it is a partnership between SDSU, Pheasants Forever, NRCS, and several other sponsors. SDSU is currently staffing it alone as we (PF) were supposed to be hiring two positions to further develop the program in the state. If you paid attention at all to the news at the beginning of this year, there were some pauses put in place to many conservation programs. While we know we are able to get these positions hired again, we just don’t know when it will be official. I will tell you the same thing I have been told, “soon”. In any event it is a program you can still get involved in, we will just have more help in the near future. When you are done with harvest, I strongly encourage you to get the “should we” question answered before you move onto next years input planning.
Now do you really need a computer program to tell you where the unprofitable acres are? I definitely don’t think so. Much of it we can see with our eyes driving by it, we can certainly see it from the combine, add in the yield monitor and I think we can do a pretty good job of analyzing those acres ourselves. If we are being honest though we have had that ability for some time now and not much evaluation has been done on those acres. Maybe an in-depth profit analysis with pretty maps is just the kick in the pants we need to finally sit up and take notice.