How Technology Can Boost Decision-Making and Profitability

Frank Lussetto makes many decisions during peak seasons of planting and harvest on his 3,000-acre Broadwater, Nebraska, farm. For Lussetto, technology is the toolbox that allows him to record everything that happens and how those decisions impact profitability.

“Say we have 10 things on the farm that we know we want to improve, like hybrid selection, seed placement, spray timing, or harvest timing,” he says. “If we can just do each one a little bit better, say 1%, that’s 10% more to our bottom line.”

The Business of Farming

Typically, farms use cash accounting for tax purposes, which gives a picture of monies received and disbursed for cash flow, explains Ben Longlet, digital specialist for Harvest Profit, a North Dakota-based maker of farm management software. However, cash basis can distort profitability because there’s money coming in and out that might not be for the current crop year.

“Farmers need to know exactly what went into every bushel and what it cost them so they know where they need to sell to make a profit,” Longlet says. “Harvest Profit can help navigate through challenging times because there’s often still opportunity to make a profit.”

Ryan Raguse is a sixth-generation farmer from Wheaton, Minnesota, and co-founder and chief innovation officer at Bushel, whose farm management software, Bushel Farm, helps organize and analyze farm records. When Raguse’s dad unexpectedly passed away in 2023, he assumed management of the farm, and had a real-world opportunity to see how Bushel Farm impacted his management decisions.

“You’re an agronomist, a grain marketer, an accountant, and a mechanic,” Raguse says. “You’re doing all these things across the board, so leveraging technology to help with that is immensely useful.”

Bushel Farm has helped Raguse understand farm profitability. “I know the profitability of my farm up to the 10-minute delay on the market,” he says. As markets fluctuate above and below his break-even point, he can capitalize on marketing opportunities to stay profitable.

Informed Decisions

Lussetto looks at his fields like a factory. Through the data he collects, he can rate the profitability of each field, for example by tracking irrigation pumping costs. “For some of our ground, our breakeven was 40¢ or 50¢ more per bushel because of the depth of the water and the cost of crop insurance in a different county,” he explains. “Harvest Profit helped us see which fields are profitable and what we need to improve on the ones that aren’t.”

Raguse has applied his understanding of field-level direct and overhead costs to make planting decisions that impact overall profitability. “Back in 2018, I was running numbers for my dad. Everyone was bearish on soybeans,” he says. “But once we applied the accurate overhead costs, there was a higher contribution margin on soybeans. We planted more soybeans that year, and it was a good decision for our operation.”

There is a lot of uncertainty headed into 2025, and many farmers are tightening their belts.

“I’ve been farming for almost 50 years, and I’ve seen all these downturns. I’ve been through the ’80s,” Lussetto says. “It’s just the cycle of business, and these management tools will help us weather that cycle a lot better.”