The sensitivity of economic gains from high-speed planting

Abstract

Recent technological progress in high-speed planting (HSP) warrants economic analysis of its potential. A whole farm optimization model of a 1000 ha Kentucky, USA corn and soybean operation finds that operating cost savings (labor, fuel, tractor repairs) and yield increases couple in recovering annual ownership costs of HSP technology. Changes in farm net returns are positive for all 12-row planter scenarios and all double speed cases for the 16-row planter but not for a 50% increase in speed with the 16-row planter. The greatest profit potential occurred when adopting the combination of HSP and variable rate application (VRA), with increased net returns of up to 6.57% compared to conventional speed no VRA for the 12-row planter.