Field Optimizer™, a seed selector program that arms farmers with objective seed performance data and helps them choose the best hybrids, has been released by AcreShield™. This new tool is backed by an industry-first yield performance protection warranty program.
Maximizing yield through minimizing components of yield risk is key to determining profitable farm operations. Profitability generally depends on getting crop yields close to 100 percent or more compared to historical yields. While crop insurance covers up to 85 percent of a farmer’s historical yield, profits are at risk when yields fall between 85 percent and 100 percent. This 15 percent shortfall is the Yield Gap. (See Figure 1.)
Yield Optimizer™ should offer financial protection to safeguard farmers whose yields fell into the Yield Gap. “Yield Gap is a universal problem to all row crop farmers and more than 200 million acres are challenged each year,” Billy Rose, AcreShield CEO, says. “With farm profitability dependent on achieving crop yields of 100 percent or more compared to historical yields, this 15 percent difference in the Yield Gap often determines if a farmer will make or lose money. Yield Optimizer helps solve the problem of Yield Gap happening.” (See Figure 2.)
Yield Optimizer, with the associated Yield Gap protections, is available in a three-tiered offering with introductory pricing at $ 5.00, $ 8.00 or $ 15.00 per acre. The respective Yield Gap protection payments for these prices are up to $ 25, $ 56 or $ 105 per acre. Farmers can sign up during the early sign-up period with introductory pricing valid until April 15.
Timing is right
The arrival of Yield Optimizer comes as farmers are challenged with low commodity prices. The recently released 2024 Farm Sector Income Forecast from USDA’s Economic Research Service projects further decreases in farm income nationwide. In addition to prudent financial management, increased yields can improve farm income and profitability.
Jeff Leerer, a Kensett, Iowa, farmer, says Yield Optimizer is what he needs now. “I typically outperform the county and don’t have yields below 85 percent. Yield Optimizer’s hybrid intelligence can help me with seed selection and if I have performance levels between 85 percent and 100 percent, I am protected.”
How it works
“Yield Optimizer™ aggregates comprehensive data from respected, independent seed trial plots along with proprietary seed trial data,” Rose says. “The outputs we provide represent specific field-level performance for more than 700 seed varieties. Yield Optimizer™ uses this information to create an extensive list that ranks top-performing brands and hybrids by yield, specific to a farmer’s location.”
“Farmers don’t get to choose their soil, but they can choose their seed. While weather has a big impact on yields, the selection of the proper seed hybrid is where yields start. Three years of unbiased, scientific seed trial data shows that in the same field, soil and weather conditions, a hybrid selection affects yields by up to 40 bushels per acre depending on the hybrid selected when analyzing the top 30 percent of commercially available hybrids.”
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