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Granular hosts agronomy & profitability online event

A farm management professor says growers should be signing up for federal financial aid as they move through the rest of this financially difficult season heading into next year. Gary Schnitkey with the University of Illinois says it’s been “an interesting year” with COVID-19 and social distancing is not helping. 

On a webinar hosted by Granular, Schnitkey says farmers should expect more federal aid like the CFAP program and sign up, “I would also suggest the PPP program and the EIDL program if we haven’t done that and apply for WHIP Plus. So, this year with those aid programs we’re probably going to have a – we’re going to get through this year!” EIDL is the Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program.

Then, Schnitkey says, growers should start budgeting, “Begin doing budgets for 2021 in a clear-eyed fashion with $3.20 corn and $8.50 soybeans as our price and come to terms with what that’s going to mean for our operation into 2021.”

Pioneer Agronomy Manager Matt Essick says growers must spend time in their fields evaluating them, “What am I missing this year that could have led to higher yields or what did I maybe overspend on and could have maybe reduced my input costs a little bit so I can do some evaluation that way.”

Schnitkey and Essick were on an Agronomy & Profitability webinar hosted by Granular.