Whole farm Implications of Utilizing Direct Harvesting Techniques in Dry Bean Rotations in Southeast Wyoming and Western Nebraska.

In Southeast Wyoming and Western Nebraska dry bean varieties have historically been harvested by cutting then retrieving with a pickup head from a combine. These operations have been successful in harvesting the crop, however multiple passes with machinery can be costly. Direct harvest technology can be used, although this often results in lower yields due to losses associated with direct harvest technology. Beiermann, et al. (2016) found there was significant reduction in harvest loss where dry bean was planted into wheat stubble because bean pods were being held higher above the soil surface (P<=0.001.). The study aims to examine whole farm implications to producers of utilizing direct harvest of dry edible bean varieties following winter wheat as compared to conventional harvest. There may be a large benefit to producers to begin switching their production habits that will result in increased profits. We estimate the whole farm implications of planting dry edible bean directly into wheat stubble in order to decrease harvest loss and operation costs. We examine multiple crop rotations indicative for the area. A whole farm linear programming model based on Lee et al. (2012) is used to determine profits on the representative farm over a suite of input and output prices. Results show that operations that produce direct harvest dry edible bean are more profitable than conventionally harvested dry edible bean, even though direct harvest beans require wheat to be planted the previous year. This is interesting because wheat has recently been a very unprofitable crop. Direct harvest beans are about $165/acre more profitable than conventional dry beans. In the system without sugarbeet or hay, where we require wheat prior to direct harvest beans, the farm is only about $31/acre more profitable.