GrainTrader - 1/18/2026 16:05

have you done any testing of lower rates vs your current program? 

i havent necessarily done any but have had to lower some rates on mine and i do not see any drop vs neighbors doing differently. 

you mentioned $135 an acre for P K and S. and i think Sulfur on corn especially but also on soybeans is like nitrogen on corn and necessary. but in the instance of say a 1000 acre farmer, i'm not convinced the other $100,000 on the P and the K is gaining them that much back. now i'm too chicken and too uneducated to completely stop applying P and K but i have backed off. my owned ground included. so its not a "mining rented ground" deal. its everything. as i question what is and what isn't providing roi in these tight times. i have taken some of those dollars and moved them to some micros also, and upping sulfur actually some. 

i wish i owned or rented a farm that me and the landlord agreed was going to be a housing develpment in 10 years and they didn't care if i flat out mined it. i'd like to study that vs stips of 150% removal vs 100% of removal vs 50% of removal over time. but i'm too chicken shat to do it on something now that i am afraid i'd "ruin". 

basically... i farm 1500 acres, and on a bad year i'm ok with making $50,000 that i bring home to use for living expenses, but i want to make closer to $100,000 on average, and have those $150,000 to $200,000 years to sock away some for retirement, land purchases and to get ahead on borrowing operating money... and all that being said. i'm spending $75,000-150,000 a year i'm not sure i'm getting back... all while hoping to make less than that on a bad year... and maybe making $0.00 this year. 

surely i can't be the only person thinking this?