Alberta Agriculture and Forestry (AF) has released the AgriProfit$ crop and forages benchmarks for 2015.
“Each year, the AgriProfit$ program is offered to Alberta crops and cow-calf producers,” says Rawlin Thangaraj, crops economist, AF. “Under the program, participating producers get valuable management information. Their farm data is then grouped with others in benchmarking.”
The crop and forage benchmarks are calculated averages of costs and returns by soil zones.
“These averages are calculated from the individual producer’s data collected for the 2015 growing season through the AgriProfit$ program. This benchmark gives a good handle on the producers’ actual costs, revenues and margins by soil zones for different crops. Even better, it also provides the costs and returns for the top third producers where we have data available.”
The benchmarks can be used differently depending on whether or not the producer participated in the AgriProfit$ program.
“If the producer has participated in the AgriProfit$ program, they can simply download the benchmarks of the soil zone in which their farm is located. The producer can then understand whether they are in the average pool of producers or they are in the top third pool. If they are in the average pool, they can even identify some cost/revenue items for improvement by comparing their data to that of the top third.”
If the producers have not participated in the AgriProfit$ program, they can look at the benchmarks for the soil zones in which their farms are located, says Thangaraj. “They can then compare their farm books (own cost and returns) to the benchmark averages and top third for the different crops. This provides them with a good idea of where their farm stands compared to the larger pool (averages) and the top third.”
Thangaraj says crop and forages benchmarks have been published for black, brown, dark brown, grey, peace and irrigated soil zones.
Source : Agriculture and Forestry