Farmers should consider using the crop budget generator (CBG) to help them to decide whether to plant corn or soybeans in 2008.

At least that’s the recommendation from Ray Massey, a University of Missouri (MU) Extension agricultural economist, who makes the suggestion in the Nov. 16, 2007 edition of the MU Integrated Pest & Crop Management newsletter.

The crop budget generator is a decision-making tool for crop farmers, which was developed by MU and the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI). “It is a spreadsheet that allows the user to enter their estimates for yields, prices, inputs and expenses to arrive at their estimate of net income,” explains Massey. “I would recommend that readers download this spreadsheet from the Farmer’s Corner section of the FAPRI Web site and estimate their own costs and returns to determine what is best to plant.”

This spreadsheet is about the only predictor Massey is willing to provide farmers who want to know what crop will generate more income next year. “While I don’t have the guts to give a crystal ball forecast of whether corn or soybeans offer better profit potential, I don’t have any qualms about encouraging farmers to take advantage of the FAPRI budget generator to estimate their own profit potentials from both corn and soybeans,” he writes. “Of course, the big wildcard is what the price will be in 2008.”

Massey recommends farmers who want more information on how to improve their marketing decisions to visit the FAPRI decisive marketing newsletter here.

To read more of Massey’s tips on corn and soybean planting decisions for 2008, click on this pdf Web link.