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| Your math is correct; 300 bu might be a more reasonable number-and then some will say, "Well, lots of folks are growing 300 bu corn." However for your (my) numbers to work, the BASE corn yield must be 240 bu/a. Not everybody is growing 240 bu corn these days. When I get bored, I go to the Iowa State University Cost of Production website and compare input costs of corn vs beans and then factor in today's revenue. Not a pretty picture, but I do think depressed prices are a reason to consider a more "efficient" way to produce corn-even if fewer bushels are produced per field. In the case of your numbers on the 6 row strips, The field would grow 240 bu/a. But with strips, the field (the 50% in corn) would average 322/2 or 161 bu/a, or 67% of the corn at 50% of the input costs. And, no, I'm not running for office! The real question and the opportunity is what to do with the other half of the field: beans, other cash crop, relay cropping (a'la Tim Boring), cover crop seeds, etc. This is not a simple system-but I think depressed prices make it more worth considering. There may be other environmental considerations on less prime land. | |
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Planter Drive Sprockets
