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Dealing With High Energy Costs On The Farm | |
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“High fuel costs probably will reduce tillage but there are some soil types that need tillage. What a farmer needs to do, is sit back and reevaluate where he stands. He needs to look at crops he’s planting and the soils he’s planting in. If you are in poorly drained soils, then you probably need some tillage, but if you are not on poorly drained soils then you probably don’t need tillage.” Lloyd Murdock, UK agronomist |
By Laura Skillman PRINCETON,
With many agricultural
activities driven by petroleum from the grease gun to the diesel combine
to nitrogen fertilizers, high oil prices can have a dramatic impact on
production costs.
“Unfortunately, things still
have to be done,” said Suzy Martin, farm management specialist for the
Ohio Valley Farm Management program. “They can lock in prices when they
are down or prepay to get price discounts.” Locking in prices and prepaying
can give farmers a better idea of what they will need in terms of cash
flow, she said. Most farms large enough to get bulk discounts already are
doing so. For smaller operations, an alternative may be to join forces
with others get these discounts.
In the past three years, bulk
diesel fuel has increased from 96 cents in April 2002 to $1.31 per gallon
in April 2004, according to the Kentucky Agricultural Statistics Service
and the price has risen even more in recent months. Nitrogen fertilizer also has
substantially increased. Anhydrous ammonia prices have risen from $250 per
ton in April 2002 to $379 per ton in April 2004, according to the
reporting service. While ammonia nitrate prices have increased by $68 per
ton since 2002. Not only is the price for
nitrogen increasing but phosphorus and potassium costs are escalating as
well. “We’ve done quite a bit of
research in the past three years to determine if our fertilizer
recommendations we have been making are accurate and with very little
exception they are,” said Lloyd Murdock, an agronomist with the University
of Kentucky College of Agriculture. “So if a guy wants to use economical
rates of nitrogen, if he’ll use our recommendations found in publication
AGR-1, then he will be pretty close to the economical rates of
nitrogen.”
Some of the things now being
studied and guidelines established for include tests that would allow
farmers to determine how much nitrogen may be lost in a wet spring. Basal
stalk nitrogen tests can also be used at the end of a growing season to
determine if nitrogen rates applied for the season were excessive or not
enough. “If you don’t know if you’ve
been over fertilizing or if you’ve cut back and you want to know if you
are in the right ballpark, this will help give you that answer,” he said.
“These are tools the farmer needs to start using.” Soil testing continues to be
important to ensure proper potassium, phosphorus and pH levels. With
increased cost of these fertilizers, farmers need to use the
recommendations called for in their soil tests, otherwise, they may be
over fertilizing, Murdock said. It is also important to aim for the medium
level for these two nutrients rather than high level, for the most
economical outcome. Use of manure and poultry
litter is also likely to increase as the cost of litter is a good buy
compared to fertilizer, depending on availability in an area, Murdock
said. If a farmer has good, easy access to litter, it can be a good
choice, he said. It not only adds nutrients to the soil but also helps
build up organic materials and increases yields as a result. Murdock said high fuel costs
have farmers reevaluating their tillage practices. “If you don’t need tillage then
it is costing time and money,” he said. “High fuel costs probably will
reduce tillage but there are some soil types that need tillage. What a
farmer needs to do, is sit back and reevaluate where he stands. He needs
to look at crops he’s planting and the soils he’s planting in. If you are
in poorly drained soils, then you probably need some tillage, but if you
are not on poorly drained soils then you probably don’t need
tillage.” Some producers do deep tillage
every other year or so and that also needs to be reviewed, Murdock
said. The way to do that is
to use a pentrometer to determine what fields have compaction problems.
Another suggestion is to only correct areas in the fields that have a
problem and leave the rest of the field alone. “I’ve had a lot of calls from
people this fall who were trying to do deep tillage and they were simply
paying a huge fuel bill and they wanted to know if they needed to be doing
this tillage and can I do this at a shallower depth,” he said. “It’s
having a big enough effect in their pocketbook that they are beginning to
think and it is time to rethink it.” To learn more about soil
testing, fertilizer rates and soil compaction, contact a local
-30- Writer: Laura Skillman 270-365-7541 ext. 278 Source: Suzy Martin, 270-685-8480; Lloyd Murdock, 270-365-7541 ext. 207 Return to Main News page. |