Cropping Practices Which Can Increase Profits.

There are many cropping practices which affect the profit of crop production. The first is to use crop budgets to compare expenses and returns from the various crops and cropping systems. For example, in Nebraska we have 50 crop budgets which include 13 for corn and eight for soybeans. These are interactive budgets so one can change input costs, yields, etc. One can examine a number of cropping practices to reduce input costs by clicking on Surviving High Input Costs under the University of Nebraska Crop Watch. Those listed include: Production Practices - Reduce Soybean Planting Populations (Save $10.66-$18.75/acre), Eliminate Soybean Inoculant in Fields with a History of Beans (Save $1.50/acre), Skip-Row Corn Offers Moisture Savings, Eliminate One Field Operation (Save $8-$10/acre), No-till Farming In Dryland Cropping Systems (Save $39.50/acre), No-till and Controlled Wheel Traffic Can Save Irrigation Water (Save $20.10-$33.50/acre); Soil Fertility – Take Advantage of Manure Resources for Your Operation (Save $23.81/acre), Eliminate Unnecessary Use of Phosphorus, Potassium and Sulfur Fertilizer (Save $118.56/acre), Give Proper Nitrogen Credit for Legumes in Corn and Milo Rotations (Save $30-$80/acre), Credit Soil Organic Matter for Nitrogen (Save $18.75/acre), Credit Soil for Nitrate Nitrogen (Save $24/acre); Machinery Management – Share Machinery, Reduce Costs Through Joint Ownership, Leasing vs Buying Ag Machinery; Factors to Assess, Leasing vs Buying Ag Machinery; Weighing the Economics; Pest Management – Using Resistant Varieties to Combat Soybean Diseases, IPM: As Important Now as Ever (Save $5-10/acre), Managing Foliar Diseases of Winter Wheat with Fungicides (Save $10-$70/acre), Comparing Generic Versus Name Brand Herbicides (Save $5.50/acre), Production Management – Using On-Farm Research to Evaluate Profitability, Setting Realistic Yield Goals (Save $7.50-$42.50/acre), Harvesting Crop Residue: What's it Worth? Irrigation – Using Irrigation Management Tools to Save Water and Energy (Save $20.12/acre), Repair or Replace Inefficient Irrigation Pumping Plants (Save $16.52/acre), Using Cutoff Ratio to Fine-Tune Furrow Irrigations (Save $14/acre), Repair Leaky Gates/Gaskets and Eliminate A Set (Save $32.10/acre); Grain Storage and Handling – Fill Drying Bins in Layers to Reduce Drying Time and Energy Cost (Save 0.29-2.5¢/bu/pt of Moisture Removed), How to Reduce On-Farm Grain Drying Energy Costs, Cost Saving Ideas When Using High Speed, High-Capacity Dryers, Harvest Soybeans at 13% Moisture (Save $11.48/acre).