Recently we received several inquiries from landowners who are very concerned about the price level of soybeans. To the extent that they doubt about the choice between lease and direct management. The price of soybeans affects both management models as rental income is also expressed in kg soybeans. It is correct that the current price level is very low and leaves less margin. Some people were asking about changing from soybeans to alternative crops. One could consider maize, sorgo or sunflower. Sunflower is not very common in Uruguay and experiences were not very positive. A limitation is also that the harvester needs a special disk just for this particular crop. Sorgo is very common. It is good for soil health, but economically not very appealing. With maize there are worries about a growing presence of corn leafhopper or chicharrita as they say here. In Argentina and Brazil farmers had many problems. It requires 6 or 7 times spraying during the growth cycle.
We had several discussions with agronomists this week and we decided to change from late maize to early maize as the cold nights make problems with the corn leafhopper less likely. Soybeans seeding will not be changed as the margin is still the best for this crop as compared to the alternatives. The advantage is that you can sell soybeans at any given time. Usually farmers/landowners sell 30% shortly after seeding, 30% shortly before harvesting and the rest after harvesting. But you are free to pick the moment depending on price level. This can even be part of the rental agreements. Fluctuations during a growth cycle can be significant.
In winter crops we will look into carinata and camelina as the prices are good and growth cycle short as compared to wheat. These two crops are similar to rapeseed.
