Jan. 21, 2015

"With the ever-changing value of hay and input costs, those producers who use their subirrigated meadows to produce hay may often wonder if they should apply fertilizer and, if so, how much and what type? The biological research needed to answer these queries has been completed decades ago, but because hay values and fertilizer prices are constantly changing, it becomes necessary to revisit the topic and answer these questions using current economic information. This analysis uses the classical approach where the value gained from increased production is at least as much as the cost of applying the additional fertilizer, marginal cost equals marginal revenue, and where profits, or in this case net returns, are maximized."

In this week's Cornhusker Economics UNL Agricultural Economist Matt Stockton and UNL Farm Budget Analyst Roger Wilson compare the economics of several fertilizer scenarios for Sandhills subirrigated meadows for hay production.  Read more about how they conducted their analysis and what they found in the full Cornhusker Economics article on the Department of Agricultural Economics website.