A Farmer’s Viewpoint

Kevin Hursh, P.Ag.

Kevin Hursh is one of the country’s leading agricultural commentators. He is an agrologist, journalist and farmer. Kevin and his wife Marlene run Hursh Consulting & Communications based in Saskatoon. They also own and operate a farm near Cabri in southwest Saskatchewan growing a wide variety of crops. Kevin writes for a number of agricultural publications and serves as executive director for the Canary Seed Development Commission of Saskatchewan and the Inland Terminal Association of Canada (ITAC). Twitter: @KevinHursh1

Don’t be intimidated as you chart your path to success

Here’s a bit of advice for small- to medium-sized farmers and for young farmers. Chart your path for a viable operation and don’t be intimidated. Here are some common intimidation factors.

Input costs

I’ve seen younger farmers aghast at the price of fertilizer this spring. Urea at $715/tonne and phosphate at close to a $1,000 can be tough to swallow when you could have bought it early for hundreds of dollars less.

Having dry fertilizer storage pays for itself as does keeping an eye on fertilizer prices and realizing that fertilizer is usually most expensive in the spring.

Unfortunately, cash strapped younger farmers are likely to cut back on fertilizer use to preserve cash flow as fertilizer prices rise. That limits upside yield potential.

Don’t be intimidated by the fertilizer price escalation. Learn from it and strive to capture lower prices in the years to come.

Pick the inputs you need that will make you money. Don’t skimp on what you really need. For instance, there are good reasons why glyphosate needs to be tank-mixed with other chemistry for the burnoff operation ahead of seeding.

Farm equipment at Kevin Hursh’s Saskatchewan farm. While it’s not the latest farm equipment, it helps get the job done ever year.

ProACT is a unique product that helps cover the ProACT is a unique product that helps cover the “immunity gap” in all animals. Young animals have “immunity gap” in all animals. Young animals limited exposure to life’s challenges, adult animals with have limited exposure to life’s challenges, adult animals with slow immune response can also benefit from this non slow immune response can also benefi t from this vaccine/antibiotic product. non vaccine/anti bioti c product. One new seed drill and cart can now cost $750,000-plus. That is more than all of our equipment combined. No use being intimidated. Our stuff may be old and small, but it’s paid for and we were done seeding well before many of those with the giant machines.

Beware of agronomic advice from those who claim to have all the answers. Agronomy is seldom black or white. If you’re a cash-strapped younger farmer, avoid the miracle products until they’re proven.

I’ve had young farmers ask if they should be treating their seed. In return, I ask if they’ve had a germ and disease test done and usually the answer is ‘no.’ When they do decide to treat their

seed, they often don’t have a proper seed treater so their results are diminished while the cost remains the same.

Don’t be intimidated by what you don’t know, but do your homework. Seek advice from those you trust and constantly keep learning.

Farmland prices

Expanding the farm can seem impossible as land prices continue to escalate year after year. Remember there are two aspects to land ownership. One is the revenue you gain from the crops you grow and the other is the investment value of the land.

Sky-high interest rates, low commodity prices, droughts and an abundance of farm foreclosures kept land prices low with dropping values in many regions from the early ‘80s until the early ‘90s. It was an ugly time to be farming and many did not survive.

Rising land prices is far better problem to have.

Equipment costs

Big, new equipment carries mind-boggling price tags. Don’t be intimidated by the neighbour with an 80-foot shiny drill and a seed cart the size of a granary. acreage. Keep track of your equipment investment per seeded acre. Typically, for dryland farms it is $330 to $450 per acre, with higher amounts if you’re in a high-yield region or growing specialty crops. If you’re higher than others in your area, your fixed costs may be making you uncompetitive.

We seed roughly 2,000 acres in southwest Saskatchewan, a small- to medium-sized farm by today’s standards. We have some newer equipment, but a lot of old stuff, too. Total equipment investment per seeded acre is about $350 an acre.

One new seed drill and cart can now cost $750,000-plus. That is more than all of our equipment combined. No use being intimidated. Our stuff may be old and small, but it’s paid for and we were done seeding well before many of those with the giant machines.

Farm size

“Farms are getting bigger and you have to be big to survive.” You hear this sentiment a lot and while there’s some truth to it, it doesn’t tell the entire story.

Well-run smaller farms can be very profitable. That’s important for young farmers to know. You don’t have to aspire to farming 10,000 or 20,000 acres and you don’t need to feel inferior for having a viable farm on a much smaller acreage base.