Charles Benbrook wrote:
> On my recent trip to Illinois and in my speech on biotech, I
> presented data from Iowa on the cost of a full Roundup Ready soybean
weed
> management program, to drive home how fast herbicide-tolerant weed
> management system costs were rising. The Iowa data included --
>
> * Burndown with Prowl, 2,4-D and Roundup Ultra, $19.40 per acre
> * June spray, 2 pints/acre Roundup Ultra, $15.31
> * July re-spray 1 pint, $9.06
> * Various adjuvants in the above prices
> * Seed with $5.00 tech fee, $25.00.
>
> Total cost per acre, $68.77 -- about 3-time the average cost
of
> soybean weed management less than a decade ago.
>>Steve Groff responded:
>>My 3 year average cost for herbicides on my no till RR beans is
$18.50/acre
>>including tech fee and adjuvants. Although my costs may be lower then
some RR
>>bean growers I think the source for your figures is way to high.
American
>>Cyanamid has reduced the price of their products 20-70% just to
compete with the
>>roundup ready program. I have not met many growers who said that the
RR beans
>>cost more for herbicides.How do you get $25/acre tech fee?
>>How many farmers spray Roundup 3 times?
>>Did you include the cost of application in your Roundup price? The
last Roundup
>>I bought cost $8.25/quart.
I have asked several farmers in the midwest how much they spend for
*seed and herbicides*. Here is what they told me.
Farmer #1:
RR program = $43.97
Conventional Program = $47.04
Farmer #2:
Roundup Ready
Seed $17.00/ bag x 1.5 = 25.50
Tech feee $6.50/bag x 1.5 = 9.75
1 qt Roundup burndown @$32/gal = $8.00
1 qt roundup in season = $8.00
Total cost = $51.25
Non roundup ready
Seed (bin run) $6.50/bu x 75 lb = $8.13
1 qt roundup burndown = $8.00
1.5 qt Squadron @ $37.00/ gal = $13.88
Possible 2nd treatment of Squadron= $13.88
Total cost = $30.01 - $43.89
Farmer #3
Roundup program
Seed: $21.00/unit & 1.2-1.5 unit/acre rate =$31.50
Tech Fee: $6.50/unit & 1.2-1.5 unit/acre = $9.75
Roundup Burndown: 1 quart =$8.00
Roundup Ultra In-Crop: 1 quart =$8.00
Total $57.25
Other farmer comments:
* '97 I had some RR beans that I got by with a total of 1.5 pints of RU!
There were NO weeds early to burn down, so I put
the "burndown" on at about the 3rd trifoliate, then no more was needed.
*I wouldn't say that "anybody" can get by with 3pints total RU, in a
season. "Some" might get by "some" of the time, maybe.
First rule of farming, Things never work exactly the same, consistantly!
*chemical cost would depend on whether you are no till or not...working
the ground would let you get by with a quart in mid
season followed by a pint or one and half pint in late season for
grass...
*we are no till, and spray half rate Canopy-Command mix in March,
followed by one and half pints to one quart of RU
depending on what is there in mid season...this gives 100 per cent weed
control...something we never accomplished with any
other system.
So there you have it. Nothing more then a random sampling of bean
farmers on the internet. I think the the average costs for seed and
herbicides of a RR program is nearly the same as a conventional program.
And the costs are more likely in the $50 range then $68.77
Steve Groff
-- "New Generation Cropping Systems": the cutting edge of sustainable agriculture http://www.cedarmeadowfarm.com Steve Groff Cedar Meadow Farm 679 Hilldale Rd Holtwood PA 17532 USA Ph. 717-284-5152
To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command "unsubscribe sanet-mg". To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command "subscribe sanet-mg-digest".
All messages to sanet-mg are archived at: http://www.sare.org/htdocs/hypermail