Blog

By Harwood D. Schaffer and Daryll E. Ray is Emeritus Professor, University of Tennesse November 13, 2015 Crop insurance has been in the news quite a bit in the last couple of weeks and little of it is supportive of the program, on the one hand, or good news for farmers who are facing well below-the cost-of-production harvest-time prices, on the other. Let’s start with the item that has the most immediate impact on farmers–low harvest-time prices. According to calculations made by Gary Schnitkey at the University of Illinois, with a harvest-time price of $3.83 per bushel on a $4.15 projected price, corn yields will need to be at least 8 percent below the production history specified in the policy for revenue insurance to make a payment–and that...

By John Barker, Ohio State University November 11, 2015 The economics of today’s agriculture necessitate looking for ways to improve profit margins.  Accurate data collected with our precision ag equipment can have tremendous value.  Harvest data reveals the results of everything that happened in our fields in any given year.  However, data collection is more than just making yield maps; it’s a yearlong process.   #1 What type of Information can we collect Most if not all field operations throughout the year can be recorded.  This will depend upon the software program but operations such as tillage, planting, chemical and fertilizer applications, scouting data, tile installation and of course harvest data can all be recorded.   #2 Field notes and observations Are an extremely vital part of the overall process.  Keep a notebook...