Crop Compare Dwight Aakre, Farm Management Specialist Andy Swenson, Farm & Family Resource Management Specialist

Crop Compare  A spreadsheet to assist producers in determining the competitiveness of different crops to produce

North Dakota Agriculture in 2006 Crop Percentage of Total Cash ReceiptsPlanted Acres Wheat318,290,000 Soybeans193,870,000 Corn131,400,000 Barley3995,000 Sugarbeets4.4*243,000 Sunflower4860,000 Canola4935,000 Dry Edible Beans4640,000 *Based on 2005

Total Value of Crop Production North Dakota, 2006

Defaults in Crop Compare  Nine regional budgets  Costs and yields from Extension crop budgets  Yields are 7-year Olympic average  User selects a base crop: corn, soybeans or wheat

 The objective of “crop compare” is to calculate the cash price needed for other crops to yield the same return over variable costs as the base crop Objective

User Input  All yields  All variable costs  Futures price and basis for base crop

Shortcoming of Crop Compare  Fixed costs are not included Machinery ownership Owner/operator labor  Differences in management and risk are not included

Web Address for Crop Compare /docs/Crop_Compare.xls