Crop prices are certainly more bearish now than they have been during the past two seasons, and because of this some farmers will question whether they should tweak their cropping rotation in the short term or stay the course.
Now there is a smartphone app called “Cash Cropper” that will help you to evaluate:
- The revenues and net incomes that different crop rotations will generate for your operation.
- How much phosphorus and potassium is being removed from the soil by each crop in a rotation.
- How much nitrogen is required to reach anticipated grain yield in each crop.
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The Cashcropper app allows Ontario grain growers to compare the net profitability and fertility requirements for different crop rotations within a given field. This app is powered by more than 30 years of rotational yield response data from the University of Guelph. It takes into account the user’s location, soil type and tillage practices for corn, soybeans and wheat.
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The real costs of “yield-driven” nutrient removal for each crop are included in the calculation, and the app is preloaded with default OMAFRA yield values by county and township as well as input costs, although users can input their own data to assess real and hypothetical rotation decisions.
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- User can create different crop rotations for a field that they farm.
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- The user can select different crop rotations and compare their profitability.
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- User can change default crop yields, prices and production costs to better reflect their operation.
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- Yield estimates and net profitability for each rotation are calculated using the information provided by the user and the long-term crop rotation data.
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- Cash Cropper also presents the nutrient removal and requirements for each crop in the rotation so that user can compare removal between two different crop rotations.
This app was made possible with the help and expertise of Dr. Bill Deen and Ken Janovicek from the department of plant agriculture at the University of Guelph, and the financial support of the Agri-Food and Rural Link (an OMAFRA and University of Guelph partnership) and the Grain Farmers of Ontario.
The app will be available for Android, Apple and BlackBerry 10 devices.
