Making the Case for Switching to Narrow Row Corn, Part 2: Evaluating the Cost
“Rich on Agronomy” is an occasional agronomy column from Peterson Account Manager Rich Larson.
Have you ever been in a queue, and the person behind you is bumping up against you, breathing down your neck, and forcing you to do the same to the person in front of you? Not very comfortable, is it? We all want “our own space” to be comfortable. The corn plant is like most of us–in order to do its job in producing maximum grain, it prefers “its own space”. A happy medium, if you will.
Yesterday you saw the research and advantages of narrow row corn. Click here for a refresher.
Should you consider switching to narrow row corn? Here are a few questions to consider:
Do you farm in the northern Corn Belt?
Do you grow a large acreage of corn?
Do you plan to farm for several more years?
Do you consider yourself as a serious corn grower, pushing the envelope to increase yields?
Do you plant 32,000 plants per acre or more in 30″ rows?
If Mother Nature cooperates, can you raise 150+ bushel yields?
Are you thinking about changing your planter or header in the near future?
If you answered yes to these questions, you should consider investing in the switch to narrow rows.
This article is about making an investment that all but guarantees an average yield increase of 5-10%. You pick your price, but at $3.00 corn, that is a consistent $20-$40 per acre gross ROI. In these days of lower corn prices, this investment makes sense.
As with any investment, costs have to be justified. Some of the cost considerations include:
- Replacing rims and tires for tractors and combines: This is likely the most expensive fix you will encounter when switching to narrow row corn.
- Modifying or replacing the combine head
- Modifying or replacing the planter
- Increased insecticide costs if you apply insecticide with your planter. Insecticide is usually applied on a linear foot basis (x ounces per foot). For growers facing intense corn rootworm pressure beyond trait technology, insecticide rates (per acre) will increase, if applied through the planter. Application costs for 20″ rows would be 30% higher than the costs for 30″ rows.
- Similar rate increases for starter fertilizer (if you want to maintain the same application rate per row): The main benefit of starter fertilizer is the rate within the root zone of small emerging corn plant. For example, many of the 30″ row growers I work with have determined that applying 10-34-0 at a rate of 3 gallons per acre is the best bang for their buck. That same grower must determine if a 30% reduction in his rate (2 gallons per acre within a 20″ row) is adequate. I suggest keeping a 3 gallon rate.
- Narrower rows can create management obstacles, including keeping the sprayer between the rows (especially in 20″ rows) and difficulty seeing the rows at night in the combine. Good auto steer takes care of the latter, but GPS isn’t accurate enough to keep the sprayer from running down too much corn in 20″ rows. Most operators spray crosswise or at a short angle as this is easier and reduces the amount of corn that is driven down. You probably have a 90′ or wider sprayer anyway, and the tracks are few.
- Management tip: If you have row shut off technology on your sprayer, consider spraying on the angle to avoid the aggravation of hitting those nasty sprayer tracks crosswise with the combine. They are a rotten way to break up the day in the cab.
In summary, I hope this helps you evaluate or re-evaluate the decision to make a switch to narrower rows in 2015. If you answered yes to the questions at the beginning of this post, I am confident that you will not only make more money raising corn in the long run, but also in the short term when facing lower prices.
