View from the Cab: Worth the effort?
By Kent Casson
A recent headline in a farm newspaper caught my attention the other day when it asked if farming was even worth the effort.
This had me asking myself over and over again, “is it worth it?” Margins are razor-thin and it is hard to make a profit farming these days. In fact, many farmers are predicted to lose money this year especially on soybeans. If things don’t change, corn will be the same way.
A bleak economic outlook and fresh news on tariffs have the agricultural community on edge. This has put a damper on global demand for our products, at least for now. We will see what transpires from all sides involved in the coming weeks and even months.
During these difficult times, the Illinois Soybean Association has released the top areas they feel deserve consideration to whether the uncertain storms.
First of all, the information posted to ilsoy.org says to start with a close look at your budget. It wouldn’t hurt to create one budget per acre and another per bushel and categorize it by expenses, yields, inputs and more. The University of Illinois is a great resource to start with on this.
An opportunity to cut back on spending would be rent and purchasing land. You should be willing to walk away from a potential land deal if it doesn’t pencil out. Now is also a time to revisit cash rent levels with landlords. Producers should not be afraid to negotiate and have some tough conversations, according to Mike Gunderson with Farm Credit Illinois.
The Illinois Soybean Association article also says to rethink equipment to see if your fleet is the right size for your operation today. Perhaps you could downsize without sacrificing efficiency while you should have upgraded when commodity prices were higher.
When it comes to inputs, the ISA suggests re-evaluating fungicide applications and the payoff. If your soil health is decent, maybe you can change the amount of fungicide used. Nitrogen applications could also be tweaked like single applications versus split applying. Or some are asking if they could get by with side-dressing some but not all acres.
Other tips listed by ISA include quick, decisive marketing, having frank conversations with lenders with financing renewals and exploring new opportunities through carbon sequestration.
Hopefully, we can all get through these tough times in farming.
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