Corn and soybean growers should not scrimp on crop inputs because of lower grain prices and tightening profit margins, a Purdue University agricultural economist says. Michael Gunderson, associate professor and associate director for Purdue's Center for Food and Agricultural Business, said cutting corners on inputs can be more costly for producers because of yield reductions.
"The current commodity price climate might cause crop producers to focus more intensely than usual on managing costs of production," Gunderson said. "Producers often budget on cost per acre. While this is an excellent start and certainly better than no budgeting at all, focusing only on total costs per acre might cause producers to overlook important productivity tradeoffs.
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