Source: Michigan State University Extension, Jonathan LaPorte
Decision tools from MSU Extension now consider fertilizer and chemical input costs and quantities needed for purchase.
As fall season approaches, producers across all farms are looking at next year’s profit potential. A key ingredient to a profitable year is determining how much your farm’s nutrient and pest management needs will cost. By factoring in market price trends and local availability, farms can position themselves to minimize fertilizer and chemical costs, creating more farm profits. But positioning input costs requires both understanding price points and knowing the quantities of product needed.
MSU Extension has developed several decision tools that focus on the price points of input products. These tools help find which mix of products meets your needs at the lowest possible costs. A new update to these tools now addresses the second step to positioning input costs: identifying the quantities of products needed.
The Product Purchase List is a series of pages within the Excel-based decision tool. The pages will total the amount of product you will need to complete your chemical and fertilizer plans. The intent is that these pages can be printed and taken to your local farm retailer to help in securing your farm’s chemical and fertilizer needs (Figure 1).
Identifying the total quantities of products can help with developing strategic input purchasing plans. An input purchasing plan adapts your farm input needs into an efficient buying strategy to obtain products at affordable costs. Borrowing from grain marketing concepts, input purchasing planning focuses on being intentional and proactive about buying decisions. Learn more about input purchasing plans at: https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/lower-costs-with-input-purchasing-plan
The Product Purchase List can be found in the following MSU Extension decision tools:
- The Pesticide Cost Comparison Decision Tool, which allows you to consider alternative products and their costs in developing a pesticide plan. Each crop allows two comparison plans to consider different product options and their costs per acre. Versions are available for Field Crops and Vegetables.
- The Fertilizer Cost Comparison Tool, which provides farm producers with an ability to consider nutrient needs and fertilizer product costs. The first thing to know about this decision tool is that it does not replace soil testing or soil-based recommendations. Rather, the cost comparison tool uses soil test information as part of developing a fertilizer plan. Versions are available for Field Crops, Forage, Fruit, and Vegetables.
- The Detailed Versions of the Crop Budget Estimator, which offers a more in-depth level of budget analysis. Using your own records and current market data, you can evaluate and more accurately consider a number of management decisions. Decisions that reflect the situation of your individual farm business. With this information, you can build a budget to create break-evens for use in marketing or production decisions, evaluate capital purchases (i.e., a new tractor or harvester), and assess the efficiency of your operation with financial ratios. If you are familiar with the Fertilizer and Pesticide Cost Comparison Decision Tools, these resources are built-in features. Versions are available for Field Crops, Forage, and Vegetables.
For more information on decision tools offered by MSU Extension, visit the MSU Farm Business Management homepage. Click on the Farm Business Cost of Production subpage and choose “publications” from the tag bar to access all available decision tools.
