Schmerko - 8/6/2011 20:07

Here's what I would do if I were you (and you need to take into consideration I know nothing about farming in New York, only about raising corn in the I states) and I wanted to raise corn on those forty acres:

Equipment: Purchase a 7 to 8' chisel plow, 15' field cultivator (or disc if you prefer), and a 6 row narrow planter (15'), and I would also probably get two 300 to 350 bushel gravity wagons to haul the corn in the fall.

This Fall: Burn down the vegetation with glysophate, have your fertilizer salesman spread the phosphate you need, and then chisel plow the field (maybe more than once depending on the condition).

This Winter: Pre-book your seed, chemicals, nitrogen.

Next spring: Apply your nitrogen, field cultivate or disc, and then plant. Have your salesman arrange for your herbicides to be applied (pre-emergence or post depending on what you select), and follow-up with glypho if needed later after the corn is up and weeds are present.

Next Fall: Hire someone to harvest. You use your tractor and wagons to haul to where-ever you are selling it. You probably need to go to a local elevator (or hire a neighbor) to dry the corn down from 20% field moisture to 15% before you can sell the corn on the market. If you don't (around here anyway) you get hit with a big dock (penalty) for having wet corn (if it is too wet they won't even take it). Can you probably pre-sell / forward contract to sell 40 to 50% of your crop in the summer (for fall delivery) based upon how good the crop looks so far. I would hope you could get between $4.50 to $5.50 per bushel (for fall delivery).

Next year - repeat, however the initial effort to work up the ground in the fall should be easier.

Your mileage may vary....