The drought monitor report as of Tuesday, November 3, indicates significant improvement. Almost half of Barton County and much of the surrounding area to the south now range from moderate drought to just extremely dry. The northern third of Barton County is exceptionally dry. The six to ten-day forecast (November 10 to 14) indicates a 60 to 80% chance of likely above normal for temperatures and 40 to 50% chance of leaning below normal for precipitation. The eight to fourteen-day forecast indicates (November 12 to 18) indicates a 60 to 80% chance of likely above normal temperatures and a 40 to 50% chance of leaning above normal for precipitation. Above average temperatures mean in the upper 60s to low 70s not terrible for establishing wheat. The chance of above normal precipitation later in the period is good news but remember normal for October/November here is less than two inches. Still no hard frost in the near future, wheat, especially later planted wheat should be able to establish its root system and tillers, even as daylight decreases.
It鈥檚 no secret that production agriculture is facing challenging times financially. It鈥檚 a bit of a perfect storm: high input and equipment prices; a steep rise in energy costs, especially diesel; prices for commodities are nowhere near where they should be based on input costs; and for many poor yields due to heat and drought. All of this has producers looking for ways to cut costs while maintaining production. The only way to increase profits/decrease losses is increasing efficiency, that means optimizing costs. A caveat here is that most producers hove loans of one type or another and what may be suggested here, may have to have the lenders input.
There are two types of costs, fixed and variable. Fixed costs are paid whether you are farming or not, so we can鈥檛 do much about those in the short run. However, variable costs have their efficiency optimized. This doesn鈥檛 mean not spending needed money as that鈥檚 cheap. The goal is to be frugal; spending needed money efficiently. Most producers know this and this column is really as much for nonproducers as producers. So, what are possible considerations to efficiently save money?
路 Diesel fuel is now a major expense. Every trip across a field is expensive. Can tillage be eliminated or at least minimized? Can trips for fertilizer and pesticide applications be combined?
路 Producers as maintaining and holding on to older equipment as it鈥檚 more efficient to keep it running. This isn鈥檛 just trips to the dealer but a good, timely on farm maintenance program.
路 Booking input needs now, instead of later, for 2027 unless you think prices will go down. Many producers already do this, although with the situation in Iran and Ukraine, it鈥檚 much more difficult to project prices.
路 Soil testing, especially after a drought, to determine what is actually needed. Soil profile nitrogen testing to not apply any more than needed.
路 Depending
on the operation, less grain and more feed crops which have a greater chance of
decent production. Perhaps backing off
dryland soybeans and more corn, and especially grain sorghum.