This is Lewis Hybrid's tagline. Our competition has decided it was good enough for them to use something similar. It is"Field by Field". It's quite flattering to Lewis Hybrids that a national brand would use something so similar to ours. How do I use the tagline in real world situations? Anybody that has worked with me in the past know my spring, summer, and fall activities. I want to work this winter on a new activity to go along with placing hybrids. I want to start to help growers set goals for each field. You may ask why would I want to do this? The seed busines and agriculture production is becoming more and more complicated each year. Not only do growers have to deal with the different companies calling on them promoting their products, but within each of those companies are different products that need to be placed properly. The old time seed salesman will call on growers in the fall and early winter to make a sale and then show up come spring to deliver product and then in fall to ride the combine to see how those products did. The dedicated seedsman will be at the growers fingertips all year long. That person will sell the product, give advise on placement of that product, evaluate growth stages, calculate revenue, and measure revenue come fall. Also during this cycle, important agronomic information, technological advances, and marketing trends will be passed on to the grower. Monsanto announced the other day that they have 11 new seed advancements in their pipeline. How will these fit into the grower's future plans, and are all these advancements even pertinent to the grower's needs? There is so much to evaluate that it scares me to even think about it. I am not the grower that has a huge financial stake in this business. With so much at stake, and with so many new things on the field and in the pipeline, how does a grower keep it all straight? How do businesses keep new advances straight, and how do they decide which new technologies to hang their hat on?
Many questions, but with answers to keep it all in perspective and even answers to help you make plans to use the correct products with the correct technology on the correct acre. Let's start with setting some goals. How can you know where to go if you don't know what to use to get you there? We could talk about financial goals or production goals. I have spoken with Al Kluis and we are going to work together to come up with a program that will cover both areas. Today I want to talk about production goals. I am sure you all have different expectations for each field that you grow crops in. Do you apply the same amount of fertilizer on each field? Should you use the same seed on each field? In the old days when a product really showed off its performance, growers would flock to that product and plant it everywhere. It would work for a time and then inevitably that product would fall on its face and fail. That hurt the grower in so many ways. Corn at that time was $2 per bushel. Can you imagine if you had 70% of your crop planted to that hybrid today and it failed with $3.75 per bushel corn and the inputs priced where they are? It would put you out of business.
Let's get back to goal setting. The first goal to think about is a yield goal for that field and how much total revenue you want to generate on a per acre basis from this field? Placement of hybrids is a very important management practice today. I have learned that growers want help placing hybrids. I do help with placing of Lewis hybrids as well as the competition's. You don't trust me? If I fail even on the competitions, I will not be helping you next year. Items to consider when placing hybrids are: 1. Yield potential 2. Drainage in the field. 3. Is the field under a crop rotation? 4. Soil types. 5. Total N applied and timing of application. 6. P and K fertility of the field. 7. Sources of the P and K fertility. Do you use MAP and Potash or is livestock manure the main source?
Let's look at an example. Given a 45 acre field of continuous corn, with a 56 CSR, and variable soil types. You want to go with corn again because you can gross more revenue with corn than soybeans. With the soil types you are working with you apply 155 units of N. With this knowledge of the field it is pretty easy to see that this would not be a field for new higher value VT3 hybrids until you know its tendencies better. This is a simple example, but they do get more complicated.
Many questions, but with answers to keep it all in perspective and even answers to help you make plans to use the correct products with the correct technology on the correct acre. Let's start with setting some goals. How can you know where to go if you don't know what to use to get you there? We could talk about financial goals or production goals. I have spoken with Al Kluis and we are going to work together to come up with a program that will cover both areas. Today I want to talk about production goals. I am sure you all have different expectations for each field that you grow crops in. Do you apply the same amount of fertilizer on each field? Should you use the same seed on each field? In the old days when a product really showed off its performance, growers would flock to that product and plant it everywhere. It would work for a time and then inevitably that product would fall on its face and fail. That hurt the grower in so many ways. Corn at that time was $2 per bushel. Can you imagine if you had 70% of your crop planted to that hybrid today and it failed with $3.75 per bushel corn and the inputs priced where they are? It would put you out of business.
Let's get back to goal setting. The first goal to think about is a yield goal for that field and how much total revenue you want to generate on a per acre basis from this field? Placement of hybrids is a very important management practice today. I have learned that growers want help placing hybrids. I do help with placing of Lewis hybrids as well as the competition's. You don't trust me? If I fail even on the competitions, I will not be helping you next year. Items to consider when placing hybrids are: 1. Yield potential 2. Drainage in the field. 3. Is the field under a crop rotation? 4. Soil types. 5. Total N applied and timing of application. 6. P and K fertility of the field. 7. Sources of the P and K fertility. Do you use MAP and Potash or is livestock manure the main source?
Let's look at an example. Given a 45 acre field of continuous corn, with a 56 CSR, and variable soil types. You want to go with corn again because you can gross more revenue with corn than soybeans. With the soil types you are working with you apply 155 units of N. With this knowledge of the field it is pretty easy to see that this would not be a field for new higher value VT3 hybrids until you know its tendencies better. This is a simple example, but they do get more complicated.
The second part of total revenue is to set your goal for a market price on your crop. You do not have to be at the market's mercy when selling your crop. Sure you may not receive $5 a bushel for your corn every year, but if you maximize your return and earn an extra 5%-8% then you can pay for a large portion of your seed or go on that long awaited vacation. I will have Al talk more about this in later blogs.
I am going to sponsor a marketing bootcamp with Al Kluis on February 10 and 11. This is intended to help growers feel more comfortable with marketing. I will be sending out invitations soon, so look for them.
I will stop there and proceed with the next steps later this week. I hope this stimulates some thought. I will be visiting my customers in the near future to put these goals to paper. I hope you have been enjoying the cold weather. Call me if you have any questions.
Perri
319-929-7851
pdraisey@lewishybrids.com
I am going to sponsor a marketing bootcamp with Al Kluis on February 10 and 11. This is intended to help growers feel more comfortable with marketing. I will be sending out invitations soon, so look for them.
I will stop there and proceed with the next steps later this week. I hope this stimulates some thought. I will be visiting my customers in the near future to put these goals to paper. I hope you have been enjoying the cold weather. Call me if you have any questions.
Perri
319-929-7851
pdraisey@lewishybrids.com
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