UW-Discovery Farms Program

December 13, 2011

In these last few weeks of 2011 it’s time to reflect on what worked well and what could be improved on our farms and in our lives.  Not making resolutions, but carefully evaluating how things are working, evaluating sustainability and making decisions on your enterprises and inputs.  Current prices mean that a farmer is handling more money, but does it necessarily mean that a farm is profitable?  Now is the time to conduct some enterprise analysis to determine the level of profitability of each enterprise on your operation and look for ways to improve or protect your operation’s sustainability. 

This is also the time of year when many producers sit down with their advisors and make purchases of fertilizers, chemicals and seed.  Much of this has to be done to ensure that products are available next spring, while maintaining a proper balance of farm income and expense.  It appears that many non-farm people don’t understand that fertilizer purchases are based on information gathered and analyzed by producers.  These decisions are made carefully based on crop needs, available supply and the cost of inputs; not just guesses and “ballpark” situations. 

The question is being asked “why aren’t farmers adopting nutrient management”?   I would contend that over the past 15 – 20 years there have been tremendous gains in widespread adoption of nutrient management.  Based on nutrient management classes conducted since 1992, the number of farmers entering classes that don’t credit manure or legumes has dramatically decreased.  Soil sampling has increased, and as the price of fertilizer increased, the vast majority of farmers have looked for assistance in balancing their nutrient applications.  That said, very few of these farmers are looking to government agencies for assistance; they work with their advisors such as independent crop advisors, extension or technical college staff and staff at the supply dealerships.  With high fertilizer prices and the high cost of land and other inputs; farmers cannot afford to over apply fertilizers and chemicals. Most are very careful about the sustainability of their operations.

Written by Dennis, drframe@wisc.edu