Mid-Atlantic & southeast growers face tough cropping decisions in the coming weeks & months based on economics by Barney Bernstein with Entira, an Ag consulting business, and Dr. Nick Piggott, economist at NCSU (table below). Even though crop prices for corn and beans have come off the season lows, 2015 may see an even larger soybean crop, with soybean prices dropping into the $8 range. How will growers plan for and manage their risk for 2015 and beyond? Growers producing average soybean yields have significant financial risk if prices drop into the 2015 harvest, while corn production will require around 130 bu/acre to break even.

Factors to consider: An average double crop soybean break-even price is around $10.45/bu at 30 bu/ac; production costs include variable and fixed costs and assume an $85/acre rental rate (split between wheat and soybeans). Farmers who can produce full season bean yields at 40 bu/ac have a break-even price at an optimistic $8.90/bu.

Options and resources are available: Farmers may want to consider double crop or full season sorghum; sorghum offers weed resistance management options and rotational benefits that improve bean yields; and 85 bu/ac are relatively easy to achieve (for example, farmers on Eastern Shore, VA, had 2014 sorghum yields at around 95 bu/ac). Planting multiple crops seems to be by far the best solution for spreading the risk of volatile prices and weather unpredictability.Bernstein & Piggott summary budget

Even though the first FSA crop acreage report for 2014 will be posted on August 15 (at http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/webapp?area=newsroom&subject=landing&topic=foi-er-fri-cad), I know that several farmers in SE Virginia planted grain sorghum this year. For those and beyond,

Grain sorghum planted at Tidewater AREC on June 10, 2014

here there are a couple updates to consider:

Depending on maturity, May planted hybrids are getting close to heading. Scouting for worms at this time and until hard dough is important. We recently found a relatively heavy corn earworm pressure in our “Official Variety Test” (OVT). Japanese beetle pressure also needs to be observed at this time as it may cause leaf damage for young plants. For both, Dr. Herbert recommended a mixture of Baythroid (2.8 oz) and Lannate (1.5 pt) in at least 15 gal of water for good penetration inside the whorls.

Double crop sorghum planted after wheat is probably no taller than 8 inches; still a good height for several herbicide options for broad leaf control. Grass and wheat volunteers can also be controlled but sorghum needs to be at least 15 inches tall. Details on herbicide options are at http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/AREC/AREC-29/AREC-29NP.html.

Sorghum is a crop and it should be treated as such. This includes knowledgeable soil sampling for pH and nutrient content, and treatment accordingly. Nutrient recommendations for sorghum can be found at http://www.soiltest.vt.edu/PDF/recommendation-guidebook.pdf.

My research group has been quite successful growing sorghum, full and double cropping, across SE Virginia. You can tour the 41 OVT hybrids we grow this year on September 11 during the Tidewater AREC Pre-harvest Field Tour. For details on this event ask Gail White at guwhite@exchange.vt.edu.