What was your most profitable crop this year?

[helmsdale]

If canola is screwed up why is everyone seeding so much of it? Drive around in July and its yellow every where.

If you don't have the right to use your own seed the price of certified will go up dramatically.

I know I am a little mixed up on this issue!

The price of Canola seed is exactly why I don't seed it here. We are in the brown soil zone, with moisture as our limiting factor year in and year out. July heat/rain either graces us with a crop, or leaves us wondering whether our ass is punched or bored... Groceries involved with shooting for a profitable canola crop, and seed cost leaves WAY TOO much risk on the table for a guy just getting started around here. When actual long term average moisture is equated, a 20-25bu canola crop is likely the long run average. Try paying the bills on that, or worse yet, try getting a winter job to suck up the loss if it goes 10-12!

All in costs including all farm associated fixed(spread across all crops) as well as variable for each crop leaves my most to least profitable as follows:

1) Yellow Mustard (provided I can come up with a cost effective solution to getting 0.24% canola down to less than 0.1%) -> If sold with 0.24% canola it becomes the worst performing.
2) General Purpose wheat (proteined out this year, so dumped it into the milling market)
3) Durum (even when including selling some of it for feed)
4) Yellow Peas
5) Red Lentils

[seldomseen]

In reading everyone's responses one glaring fact sticks out. No one listed canola as their number one money maker. The arguement being made by those who are in favor of EPRs or trailing royalties that we need more research dollars invested in cereal seed developement to make them more profitable. If this was true wouldn't canola be the most profitable crop?

This is the part I don't understand? I have neighbours planting canola on canola and I hear that this is common in other areas. If its not the most profitable why ditch the a good rotations?

[bigzee]

I like your statement but here is reality buying a quarter each year or more for new seed and using second year at 3 bus a acre.

15 x 3 = $45

My seed and my cleaning in our plant 8.50 per bushel x 3 bus x 5000 acres is $127500 seed cost commercial.

Or

$45 a acre x 5000 = $222000.

$222000- $127500 = $97500.00 towards my bottom line or my wage for me. Oh bad me wanting some money for me myself and I on my farm.

Idiots they will screw this ip like canola and farmers will loose.

You seed your wht at 3 bu/ac? Seed growers must love you. I can buy new wheat for under $13. I do agree should buy new seed at least for a quarter every couple years. Seed is “cheap” this year with commodity prices in the da shitter.

[Hamloc]

In reading everyone's responses one glaring fact sticks out. No one listed canola as their number one money maker. The arguement being made by those who are in favor of EPRs or trailing royalties that we need more research dollars invested in cereal seed developement to make them more profitable. If this was true wouldn't canola be the most profitable crop?

[sk_wheatking]

FCC told me the biggest profit on my farm is calling up the local BTO and then going to the Walmart hiring desk.

Local credit union guy told my dad 15 years ago that we'd be better off renting out our land for 5 bucks an acre!!!

Looks like alfalfa seed didn't even make the list this year. Kind of depressing punching out bees that no one will buy!

and god damn blocks are right full
maybe we could sell them as food for protein now that we can't eat meat anymore lol

[seldomseen]

I like your statement but here is reality buying a quarter each year or more for new seed and using second year at 3 bus a acre.

15 x 3 = $45

My seed and my cleaning in our plant 8.50 per bushel x 3 bus x 5000 acres is $127500 seed cost commercial.

Or

$45 a acre x 5000 = $222000.

$222000- $127500 = $97500.00 towards my bottom line or my wage for me. Oh bad me wanting some money for me myself and I on my farm.

Idiots they will screw this ip like canola and farmers will loose.

If canola is screwed up why is everyone seeding so much of it? Drive around in July and its yellow every where.

If you don't have the right to use your own seed the price of certified will go up dramatically.

I know I am a little mixed up on this issue!

[SASKFARMER3]

I like your statement but here is reality buying a quarter each year or more for new seed and using second year at 3 bus a acre.

15 x 3 = $45

My seed and my cleaning in our plant 8.50 per bushel x 3 bus x 5000 acres is $127500 seed cost commercial.

Or

$45 a acre x 5000 = $222000.

$222000- $127500 = $97500.00 towards my bottom line or my wage for me. Oh bad me wanting some money for me myself and I on my farm.

Idiots they will screw this ip like canola and farmers will loose.

[greenmachine]

interesting thread and comments. to me there are two ways to look at it $/ac and ROI.

Our most profitable by $/ac
Wheat
Canola
Lentils

Soybeans and corn are below the profit line this year haha

Our most profitable by ROI
Wheat
Lentils
Canola

Soy and corn still below profit line.

To me this numbers are both important. the $/ac is an after season review, what made me real money. the ROI is in some ways calculating the risk involved with growing the crop.



on the seed royalty debate I think some of you are not putting all the numbers into the equation. I go back and forth depending on the day whether I agree or disagree with seed royalties. Haven't been convinced by either side to jump on board yet.

the thing that I think some are missing is that when you say you can "keep your seed for free" from the year before, that is inaccurate. that seed has a cost, if you kept it for seed then that means you didn't sell it for cash. so at the very least its worth that. not to mention the cost of cleaning, hauling it to and from the cleaner (if you have your own, then the cost of running the cleaner) seed testing, storage, interest on credit lines (that the cash could have paid) etc etc. from what I have heard so far and using my numbers the price difference between these two scenarios for my farm would be $5-7/ac. Small price to pay to not have to mess around with all this other stuff. and for my piddly 400 acres of wheat its not that big of bill. we all spend a lot more money on far worse investments, if you cant admit that than you are lying to yourself haha.

just my two cents...

[wd9]

Sunflowers sold as bird seed.