Clay SEIA - 3/23/2015 23:10
Well, I can only speak to how things work under Iowa law, but most land rental agreements "here" were done by September 1. MOST people are going to live with that, rather than breach a contract. Lots of other things are still negotiable at this point. I don't have to decide how much nitrogen to sidedress for a long time yet. Even further out to decide on things like fungicide application. I'm not going to use "substandard farming practices", but I'm not going to use practices which might breakeven on $6.50 corn and lose money on $3.80 corn.
I'm with Clay on this one; will fertilize to the highest economic level and no more. Which is prolly around .6-.7 lbs. N per bu., 215 lbs. 50/50 p&k strip banded. $56 acre non gmo seed. COC. Cost cutting to the bone, but not mining either. Yield goal; 175-180. Hard to do any better than that anyway without really good weather season long. $162 acre for seed, N, P&K. I'll have a chance to make decent margins.