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

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

3. 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

4. Total Value of Crop Production North Dakota, 2006

5. 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

6.  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

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

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

19. Web Address for Crop Compare http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/aginfo/farmmgmt /docs/Crop_Compare.xls