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On the go Protein
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BigNorsk
Posted 10/17/2007 12:29 (#221284 - in reply to #219826)
Subject: RE: On the go Protein



Rolla, ND
Well, I would say that's a bit simplistic but there's no question that if your protein drops too low in wheat that you are probably short of something, could be nitrogen, could be sulfer. Or you are excessive on something else, like water.

In any case I would love as a crop consultant to have a protein map.

Thing is, if a client asked, I'd probably have to answer that I'm not sure the units are really ready for prime time. For instance standing up to the weather conditions for multiple years.

It would seem to me too that the unit should not be just a protein tester. We grow a lot of oilseeds as well. Is there some reason why it can't tell us percent oil in our oilseeds?

It would also have a better potential for profit is there was a way to segregate grain at harvest. For instance keeping barley with high protein separate from low protein for malting purposes.

One big problem is any protein discount or premium is only a day by day thing. There is no way to know what a particular protein level would be worth in the future. You can't say raise the protein in these low protein areas a percent and a half would raise the average protein say one half percent and that would be worth $5000 to you next year with an investment of $2000 dollars in additional fertilizer.

As it currently sits, it is a postmortem examination of a crop, and then you have to extrapolate the results you got now into future crops.

That's a difficult thing to do.

I find all sorts of farmers who have yield monitors, look at maps a few times and don't know why they bothered to get it. They rapidly get tired because they don't go beyond the level of printing out and looking at them.

To them a protein map is simply another layer of data they aren't going to use. So right now your market is those tinkerers who will probably rebuild the protein tester 4 times until they are happy with it. And maybe a few very early adopters of technology.

If I was trying to get the protein tester out there, I'd be looking for some industry partners. Say Busch AgriResources that is very concerned about protein in barley. If your tester could be used some by them on some test combines and if it could be shown to produce a product that they want, particularly in tough conditions, you'd have them out pushing it's use.

Funny how much more attention someone who is writing a check to you can get over someone who seems mostly to want you to write a check to them.

Or lets say the sugarbeet guys. Now the big thing they don't want is either too much or too little nitrogen because both reduce their total sugar. If harvest protein maps could be shown to help get the nitrogen in the sugarbeets correct, you'd have a whole bunch of protein sensors out in the fields right away.

So I'd look for the niches where protein or nitrogen are the most critical. That's a couple that come to mind in this area. And then I would do the work to show that it actually helps produce something those companies want. In one case, low protein barley, in another, high yield, high sugar, sugarbeets.

Compared to them, I would think a corn soybean farmer would be a real tough sell. No one tends to pay them more based on protein, or for that matter oil. They are generally producing bulk, generic commodities. So I'd look to the niches.

Marv
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