Lab 10 Plan Your Farm Activity

Plan Your Farm

Name_______________________________ Course/Section _____________________

Date ________________________________ Professor/TA _______________________

In this activity, students work in small groups to identify the area in the United States where they want to purchase a 150-acre farm and decide what crops to plant. They will then calculate the yields and values of their crops, as well as their total income earned from their crops. Finally, the students will calculate their net income, after subtracting the cost of production of their crops.

Part One: Choose Your Farm

• Look at the Crops by Geographic Region, and choose a location for your 150-acre farm. (6 points)

State: __North Dakota__ Location (north, central, etc.):_southwestern________

Part Two: Plant Your Crops

• Use the information in Table 1 to determine the price for each of your crops. Record this information in the Price/Yield column in the table.
• Calculate your Crop Income for each crop. To find your Crop Income multiply Crop Yield by Price/Yield. For example: Barley: the yield was (15,000 bu) × $4.45/bu = $66,750. Record your results in the table.
• Add the income for all your crops to calculate your total income and enter your total income in the table.

Part Four: Factor Production Costs

It costs money to grow crops. As a rough estimate, the total costs for growing your crop range from about 47% to 56% of the total income, so you have to subtract these costs of production from your income.

• Predict what will happen to your income if there is a severe drought and you lose 75% of your production. Could you possibly lose your farm? (1 point)

As established, the income is only 50% of the total output since 50% covers the production costs. If 75% of the yield was lost due to drought, that means the output is 25% of what should have been. Subtracting the 50% for production cost (unaffected regardless of output), one has a deficit of about 25% of the expected yield. This could mean losing the farm.

• Predict what will happen to crop production and income if there are ideal growing conditions for a couple of years. What would you do with any extra money you earn? (1 point)

* For sorghum, you have to convert bu/acre to cwt/acre by dividing (bu/acre)/1.67, For example: 58 bu/acre = 34.8 cwt/ac (58/1.67 = 34.8).

** cwt = hundredweight = 100 pounds; 1 cwt = 1.67 bu

^aMaps: U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, accessed 7/26/2018 https://www.nass.usda.gov/Charts_and_Maps/Crops_County/

^bFruit Yields: Noncitrus Fruits and Nuts, Final Estimates 2007–2012. U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, Statistical Bulletin Number 1043, October 2014, accessed 7/26/2018 http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/nass/SB985/sb1043.pdf

^c2018 prices: Agricultural Prices, National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Agricultural Statistics Board, U.S. Department of Agriculture. USDA Agricultural prices; ISSN: 1937-4216, released 6/28/2018. Pp. 6, 23. http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/current/AgriPric/AgriPric-06-28-2018.pdf