Corn Yields
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Started by wglassfo - Aug. 7, 2018, 6:50 p.m.

I am in NTR because I want to ask a serious question about a farm financial question

I can't seem to log in to AG Talk, where my question originated

So I will use this forum and hope I get an answer

I just read about a Texas harvest wrapping up

Average dry land yield was 90 bu/acre

The machinery was new enough to cost big dollars How in the world, even if the land is free, which it isn't, can anybody expect to make money at 90 bu./acre

I don't know what a bu. of corn is worth in Texas but does it really matter. I also know input costs vary but enough to make 90 bu/acre pay expenses??

Even with reduced input cost plus depreciation, spread over larger acreage, hrs on machinery still cost money How can 90 bu/acre of corn do anything but lose money

Is the crop insurance that good to support farming row crops in arid Texas

If irrigation is available and economical why  not irrigate everything???

In our country a crop insurance claim once every 10 yrs plus premium cost for 10 yrs, is a slow, painful road to BK

About the only thing I can say is protection from complete hail damage, but does a once in 30 yr event on part of your acres with all production divided by all acres, even cover one yr of premium

My son and I both had hail once and we would not have collected enough to pay the premium. That was with a 120, 80 and a 30 bu/acre yield on the farms that got hail.

I often wonder if land that is so arid that low yields are often the norm, if crop insurance just keeps the low yield acres in row crops yr after yr

Maybe if crop insurance wasn't so heavily used or subsidized, we would not be so worried about lost markets in china

Look after ourselves and stop trying to feed the world

Because you can bet, most of those countries don't buy our grain because they love us

ME  sends planes into our cities, armies to kill our soldiers and then buy our grain

Perhaps some of that 12 billion could be used to set aside low yield arid country and thumb our nose at the worst of our enemies or trade problems

If irrigation pays then by all means use the natural water resource, but wisely, so it lasts for the next generation

Any ground I saw in Texas needed irrigation or forget it, except crop insurance must be the answer. I saw a awful lot of big machinery in Texas, and most was reasonably new. Biggest disk was in Texas and the farmer said his uncle had a bigger disk

I really don't know the why and wherefores, so somebody help me understand, harvesting 90 bu corn and knowing it will likely happen more often than not

Kansas, I also have a hard time understanding anybody farming row crop with out irrigation, even if you do get 180 dry land. That 180 doesn't happen every yr., so crop insurance must be paying something for the dry part of Kansas that is zeroed out or going into silage

On our farm we have to average 180 corn or we tighten the belt considerably and 180 just keeps us afloat

I think we may do better than that this yr, but who knows, what next yr will bring

But I can rest assured we will harvest a lot more than 90 bu.acre. Heck I contract a lot more than that/acre every yr.

Yes we had considerable 160 bu./acre not so long ago

One variety completely bombed on us, and cost us a bunch, but that is the exception, not the norm

I know, different places, different cost structure, but it still baffles me

Sorry to ask on this forum, but I just had to ask somebody, if low yield, arid, dry land, crop land makes any sense, what with lost markets, surplus, low prices, trade wars [which somebody had to make it right, sooner than later] etc. if there is some way to ease the pain for everybody

I am sure there is a reason why

Comments
Re: Corn Yields
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By mcfarm - Aug. 8, 2018, 7:15 a.m.
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the yields I hear are from 90 to 240. then we have this little thing here in the states called freedom to fail...or freedom to succeed....in other words if a texas dude wants to try more power to him and it really none of our business

Re: Corn Yields
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By wglassfo - Aug. 8, 2018, 5:45 p.m.
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I think the 240 yields are irrigated which is reasonable

I don't see what is so special about failing, anybody can do that and not something I would recommend

There is actually a lot of acres of row crop in Texas, cotton being a biggy, a dry climate crop. Corn needs huge amounts of water and crop insurance

Texas actually has 5 different zones moving laterally across the state if I understand correctly

Further west you go the drier it gets

Not sure what the pan handle is classified as being

I have to think that subsidized crop insurance has a lot  to do with continued dry land row crops such as corn, in a lot of places

Remove the subsidies as Trump has said and I bet you the surplus grains would disappear in a yr

We farm with out crop insurance "here"

I would think you folks would be at least as good as ourselves at the farming game

Just have to get the courage to get yourself off the gov't social net