Enterprise budgets for selected U.P. small grain crops
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EmailTools farmers can use to estimate the economic potential for small grains in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Every farmer gives a new crop or enterprise consideration before launching into it, some farmers more than others. In an effort to provide decision-making tools for people interested in growing small grains for profit in the Upper Peninsula, the enterprise budget template from Iowa State University was used to create “example” enterprise budgets for oats, barley, winter wheat, dry field peas, rye and sunflower. For the examples included, cost estimates for machinery, seed and fertilizer, labor, land, etc., from various MSU and USDA information sources were used. These budgets can be easily adjusted to reflect actual input costs on your own farm as long as your computer has the Microsoft Excel program. The location for the templates can be found at U.P. Enterprise Budgets – Winter Wheat, Oats, Barley, Dry Field Peas, Fall Rye, Sunflower (Oil).
Once it loads onto your computer, you can switch between crops by choosing the one you want on the list across the bottom of the screen. Based on the example data entered by U.P. MSU Extension staff, wheat, oats and sunflower have the potential to generate profit as cash crops. Barley does not, but may be an economical farm-grown feed option anyway. Rye and field peas are close to a break-even proposition as a cash crop, but may have valuable on-farm usage, like barley.
For more information on enterprise budgets, refer to MSU Extension educator Dennis Stein’s article, Last minute adjustments to estimated crop production cost budgets for 2012.
For more information, contact MSU Extension educator Jim Isleib at 906-387-2530.
