Economic evaluation of combined soil preparation, fertilizing and seeding machinery used in grain production process
2013
Valainis, O., Latvia Univ. of Agriculture, Jelgava (Latvia). Faculty of Economics | Zvirbule-Berzina, A., Latvia Univ. of Agriculture, Jelgava (Latvia). Faculty of Economics
The aim is to compare several soil preparations (that include soil preparation, fertilizing and seeding) technologies: single operation, power-harrow seeder, and direct seeder technologies. This comparison is done including labour costs, machinery depreciation and maintenance costs and fuel costs. The actual fertilizer costs have not been taken into consideration. To proceed successfully with calculations, an economic model of a grain production farm has been created, where it is possible to compare different types of technologies and include any number of agricultural operations in the calculations. The model uses a sophisticated algorithm to determine soil preparation costs at any given land area, calculating the machines' efficiency at any given moment and also giving the possibility to calculate the total number of hours needed to prepare one ha of land for seeding and to seed. The results are compared in the form of a line chart and a data table. Based on these results, each farmer can compare his current technology and machinery to a new different setup of machinery or a completely new technology. It is also possible to see what the land increase limit using the current technology is, because the model also shows how well the current technology complies with the previously set up agro-terms. Therefore, it is possible to plan for the future improvements (new machinery, increase of the land area) and to compare if a technology change is more cost effective.
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