How do you make your farming business more cost-efficient?
- Keep a record of everything
- Choose a reliable supplier
- Maintain your machinery
- Find affordable ways of managing pest
- Order seeds wisely
- Consider rotating your crops
The secret to increasing farm profit is to manage costs. To maximize your earnings, you have to find ways to budget your expenses. To do this, you need to know what things you’re paying for, then find the ones that you can control. You might not be able to control the weather and the prices of commodities, but you can manage your expenses. To help you, here is a guide on how to make your farming business more cost-efficient. Keep on reading!
Keep A Record of Everything
The first thing you need to do is to start jotting down all your expenses. By knowing where each peso is going towards, you’ll be mindful of spending your working capital. Keep data on all your expenses — such as rent, payroll, equipment maintenance, raw material costs, and more. Make sure to take down the dates, so it’s easier to backtrack.
By seeing all your expenses at a glance, you’ll know where to cut back and where to spend more to increase your profits. It also gives you an idea of how to prepare for the future.
Choose A Reliable Supplier
Your farm supplies are one of the most important expenses for your business. For this reason, you need to find a reliable supplier that can be a long-term partner. This means choosing a business that can supply you with your needs when you need them. The products are always managed properly, so you can reduce waste and avoid extra costs.
Other than the fertilizer, seeds, and livestock, this also applies to the agricultural machinery supplier. Choose a company that can also provide you with after-sales services, such as spare parts and maintenance services, so you can avoid downtime — which can also be costly.
Maintain Your Machinery
Agricultural machinery can be more cost-efficient in the long run because you can perform farm tasks faster, handle more acres of land, and plant or harvest more crops. Remember that when it comes to farming, time is money. Planting and harvesting on time can affect the quality of your crops and the number of yields.
Maintenance is key to prolonging the life of your farm equipment. By ensuring that your tractors, planting machines, and harvesters are in peak condition, you can prevent breakdowns which can waste your valuable time. Make maintenance a routine on your farm. Inspect your machinery before and after an operation, and make sure to maintain the parts according to the manufacturer’s manual.
Find Affordable Ways of Managing Pest
Some farmers overspend on pesticides, herbicides, and other chemicals to manage pests. Because it’s one of the top expenses for your farm, you need to make sure that all the products you buy are cost-efficient.
To reduce costs, you can consider analyzing generic alternatives. Be wary of promotions because instead of saving money, you might end up buying more than you actually need. Other than that, it also helps to research weed, insect, and disease management practices. For instance, you might save more when you opt for preemptive spraying for weeds.
Order Seeds Wisely
Traits can help protect yield, but some hybrids have expensive traits. That’s why plenty of farmers are purchasing hybrid seeds with only one or two traits to cut costs.
But cheaper is not always the wise choice. For instance, if you’ve had a good experience with a certain seed, switching to a cheaper one from a different supplier might not be a good decision, especially if you haven’t had experience planting it. But if you have tested the brand in the past, then it’s a good way to cut costs.
Consider Rotating Your Crops
Crop rotation involves planting a different crop after another in the same plot of land. This practice can help make the soil healthier and improve resistance to pests and weeds. For instance, after a season of planting beans, you might opt for corn the next season. The corn will consume the nitrogen from the soil, while the beans will return the nutrient.
By practicing crop rotation, you have a healthier soil that will require fewer inputs, therefore helping you cut costs.
Key Takeaway
The price of commodities and supplies might change, or the weather can be unpredictable, but there is one thing that you can control when it comes to your farming business. By recording all your business expenses, you can spot which items need to be budgeted, so you can cut costs and maximize profits. This might involve choosing a more reliable supplier, practicing crop rotation, or looking for pest management alternatives.
If you want to know how to make your farming business more cost-efficient, you can’t forget your agricultural machinery. These make your farm tasks faster and less labor-intensive, so you need to ensure that they’re maintained properly. Fortunately, we offer after-sales services here at Ford Tractor. We have 100 in-house mechanics nationwide who are skilled in servicing your tractors and other farm equipment. Other than that, we also make sure to stock up on spare parts, so you can reduce downtime!
