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| Does it pay? The million dollar question of everything we do isn't it. The first two clients we setup to variable seed are brothers that farm seperately, home farms only 5 miles apart and I can assure you the first one to start VRTing it is paying much better than the second -- how much I do not know but the first farms much more variable ground. As others have indicated only you know how variable your ground is, and how much of this 50 bushel sandy hillside vs. 200 bushel deep bottom ground you have. In our case we don't go that extreme very much, but have established about 4-6 zones across all acres based on yield level, each zone gets a seeding rate and VRT system takes care of the rest.
Is it really worth it? That is the million dollar question, but I am going to ask - Was the new pickup/tractor/high-priced triple stacked seed corn, last 10 pounds of fertilizer, ect. really worth it? Sure precision ag gives us the tools to try to get some idea of the "value" of what we are doing, but even than it is only a guess. What happens if I plant two strips across my operation and evaluating the results I get negative response to population? Corn yield was higher when I planted the oposite of my VRT prescription? Do I pull all the equipment off b/c I am doing the wrong thing? I would suggest a different approach.
Consider the cost of a VRT investment, and think about potential returns in two areas.. slight yield increase minus increased seed cost by planting thicker in good areas, and seed savings and possibly slightly increased yield potential in poor areas if they are poor enough by planting less seeds. Also, think about the cost of actually getting all the maps done and equipment installed, something you are comfortable with and willing to commit the time to doing, or cost of having someone else do? Will give you some ballpark figures and more numbers than we often use to make a decision of this scale on the farm...
And above all, keep this in mind, a quote I recently got from someone in this business and a concept I 100% agree with:
"Raising crops is a biological process and really quite hard to control. It’s not a manufacturing process. It’s really all about reducing risk and variability"
Edited by dgrimm 12/20/2007 15:47
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VRT Corn Planting
