What is grown must be sold
The Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association direct seeding meeting last week had seminars on on precision farming, crop rotations, stubble management and weed control.
There wasn’t any talk from the podium about price outlooks, trade policy or market development.
So why am I talking about the meeting in this marketing column?
Because every speech about control of weeds by cultural practice, every talk about how legumes are great for soil nutrients and tilth, and every session on crop rotations had one unstated thing in common.
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You have to sell what you grow to stay in business.
Rotations with only three or four crops can spell trouble in a few years. A rotation that too often sees cereals planted on cereals or oilseeds on oilseeds will cause a buildup in hard-to-control weeds and disease.
There is a strong argument that you should have at least two years between crops from the same family to break disease and weed cycles.
So direct seeders are adding to their list of crops. Standbys like wheat, barley and canola are being joined by peas, lentils, beans, mustard, canaryseed and other special crops. Crop breeders are working to broaden the selection.
Forages like alfalfa and timothy can also be a valuable part of the rotation, breaking the weed and disease cycle.
With every crop added to the rotation there is the task of selling it, either directly or by converting it into meat through livestock.
That means learning new marketing arrangements like contracted production, identity preservation, local markets and even direct relationships with end users.
It’s a far cry from taking a load of wheat to the elevator and dumping it down the hole.
But the undeniable environmental benefits outweigh the hassles of increased complexity. And there could be economic benefits, too.
For one thing, you don’t put all your eggs in one or two baskets. Growing more crops with different markets should reduce risk, giving you less exposure if one market goes bad and little likelihood of everything going bad at once.
But to do the best job of marketing additional crops means record keeping.
Just like you should keep field records, you should regularly check and record what buyers are paying for the commodities you grow.
Over time, this information will show what a good price is, when markets rise and fall and how successful your marketing strategy is.
