 Reducing Costs: Part 2 of 2

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By Dairyland Seed Agronomy Team

As harvest season has progressed and plans for the upcoming season cropping intentions are becoming firmer, many producers are considering their options as to what to do to help manage higher input prices. A large portion of these input costs are centered around fuel and crop nutrients.

This article is the second part of a two-part series looking at potential opportunities to help manage costs and/or increase return on investment. (The first part of this series can be found HERE.) Every farm/ranching operation is different and not always will one practice or option be the best option or practice for a field or for your business. However, the options listed below, as well as the options previously suggested, provide potential ideas on where to start.

Reducing Tillage or No-till: Not every farm or acre is the same and not always is one tillage system, always the best for every acre. With that being said, with the high cost of diesel fuel, and as hard as the soil is in many of the areas affected by drought, look at reducing tillage or trying no-till on a few acres for next growing season. If you eliminate a fall tillage trip or switch to a less aggressive tillage system, this will reduce your fuel costs, wages, as well as wear and tear on your equipment for those acres. This is especially true for trying no till or reduced till and planting soybeans for the next cropping season. Utilizing Dairyland Seed soybeans on those acres will be a great choice because of the high yield and agronomic traits, but also because the flexibility of the Enlist™ Weed Control System that makes switching to a reduced tillage system easier and less worrisome and, potentially, more profitable.
Fall Herbicide Application/Weed Control: Many herbicides have labels that allow fall applications. This potentially frees up time in the spring to do other activities in your operation that may provide a better Return On Investment (ROI). Other aspects of fall application of herbicides are that it allows, in some instances, better control (such as marestail as well as others) but it also allows applications to problem areas, borders, or high density weed areas. These applications are made easier by the notes taken in Granular earlier in the growing season.
Variable rating your plant populations or reducing your plant populations: We all have areas of farms that historically do not yield as well as others, either to lighter soil types that do not have the water holding capacity or available water from rainfall, which is your biggest yield limiting factory. On those acres with lower rainfall or lower water holding capacity, it may be in your best interest to look at lowering your plant populations and taking those seed dollars and investing into other areas of the farm with increased population or other investments or pocketing those savings. Another aspect of this is that if you are reducing your fertility level or have acres that have lower fertility levels, you may be better served to reduce those plant population on those acres. The analogy is if you invite more people to a dinner party you had better make sure you have enough food for those guests. This analogy applies to having too many seeds per acre and not enough fertility -- you have the same result. Utilizing Granular from Corteva to help set up a prescription on what parts of your fields or farms to set up a variable rate prescription map, is a great way to go in helping to manage this process.
Variable Rate Seeding: If you have been bringing your yield data into Granular Insights from Corteva or other yield data management programs, you know you have areas in your fields that have higher and lower levels of yield. If an area of a field has a soil type or organic matter that does not hold on to available water (sand/gravel), odds are it cannot support a higher plant population level. By maintaining a higher plant population in those areas, you are not getting the most value out of your seed dollar in that area. Reducing the plant population in those areas potentially does two things: Increases yield due to more available water per plant and increases yield (fewer plants equates to more available water and nutrients per plant). Conversely, if you have areas of the field that are higher yielding, are we putting on the correct plant population? If we increase the plant population, do we increase yield? Another aspect of this is that if you are reducing your fertility level or have acres that have lower fertility levels, you may be better served to reduce those plant population on those acres. The analogy is if you invite more people to a dinner party you had better make sure you have enough food for those guests, this applies to having too many seeds per acre and not enough fertility, you have the same result. By managing seed costs on lower producing acres, you can take those savings and invest them in increased populations elsewhere pocket those savings or apply to other investments.
Seed Product Considerations: Does a product have more ear flex and or is there a field that is going to corn that cannot handle a higher plant population? Reducing plant populations with that product or field helps you manage your seed investment per acre.
Product or Management Practice ROI: We all have a product or practice that we utilize because that is the way that Dad, Grandpa, or the way we have always done it. Take some time to ask the “Why and What” questions as to why we do that and what does it do for us.

Working through and making decisions on your farm or ranch can be challenging. This can be especially true and more challenging when input costs are at their historic highs. We at Dairyland Seed work hard to partner with you to help make your acres more productive and profitable. If you have questions about these or other agronomic topics, please contact your Dairyland Seed team. Have a safe harvest season.