New software is available to help producers determine whether purchasing a cotton yield monitoring system would be a wise investment.

The Cotton Yield Monitor Investment Decision Aid (CYMIDA) is an interactive computer program developed by researchers with the University of Tennessee Department of Agricultural Economics. The software can help cotton farmers evaluate the yield gains and input savings required to pay for investing in a cotton yield monitoring system. Dr. Jim Larson led the research team.

Computer-based technologies such as CYMIDA are an integral part of precision farming. Electronic yield monitoring technology provides farmers with a way to collect detailed field spatial information about crop yields, but as cotton producers know, the technology does not come cheap. Cost-conscious producers welcome tools that can help determine if an investment is worth it.

Using partial budgeting and break-even analysis, CYMIDA allows farmers to develop a custom analysis based on their individual farm situation. The software determines cotton yield monitor information system costs as a function of farm size and evaluates breakeven yield gains and input savings required to cover the cost of the system, says Dr. Burton English, a UT professor of agricultural economics and member of the developing team.

In an example analysis using breakeven yield gains and input savings needed to cover the fixed costs of the information system for a nitrogen fertilization decision, English says CYMIDA results indicate that most of the cost advantage for the information system is achieved for farms with at least 1,424 acres of cotton. The fixed cost of the information system is $4.33 per acre for a 1,424-acre cotton enterprise compared with $11.98 per acre for a farm with only 356 acres of cotton. The analysis was calculated using a partial budgeting framework.

Assuming no change in the nitrogen fertilization rate for variable rate versus uniform rate application, and assuming that all costs are allocated to the cotton enterprise, CYMIDA determined that a 21 lb/acre yield gain is required to cover fixed costs for the 356 acre cotton enterprise. An 8 lb/acre yield gain is required to cover fixed costs for the 1,424-acre cotton enterprise.

The required yield gains for the nitrogen fertilization decision are less if fixed costs are allocated over all crop acres or if the information system is used for more than one input decision, says English.

CYMIDA features a printable user's guide, easy point and click operation, context sensitive help, and default input costs that serve as a starting point for the user.

Dr. Roland Roberts and Rebecca Cochran were also members of the developing team. Funding for CYMIDA was provided by Cotton Incorporated.

A report of the study and a free copy of the software can be found online at http://economics.ag.utk.edu/cymida.html