We’ve talked before about some of the ways that you can make more money in the agricultural industry. You can have a look at some of the best possibilities, but arguably the simplest, most effective idea is to save. By saving and reducing your expenditures as a farmer, you can easily add a lot more of the money that you make to your profits.
This is a great idea if you don’t want want to put even more pressure on your business model or, cause more work for you. Here are a few of the greatest ways to save in the agricultural industry.
Lower Your Labour
In the past, it made sense to have a huge labor force on a farm. For instance, if you were running a dairy farm, you needed a full team to milk the cows. But all that has changed because these days you can get an automated milking machine. Through conditioning, by placing the food source where cows get milk, the livestock can be encouraged to get themselves milked by the machine. Since the whole operation works by laser scanning the cow when it’s in position, the process requires very little human interaction at all.
You might need an engineer to check the machine on occasion, you certainly don’t need a hundred people to man a huge herd anymore. Instead, like factories these days, the workforce can be kept very low indeed.
Outsource
If you are selling crops through your farm, you will probably be supplying them to local shops and supermarkets. As most people know, many products don’t turn up at the shop fresh out of the ground. They need to be prepared and packaged. However, this costs time and money. If you want to avoid this cost for your agricultural business, you might want to consider using a different company to prepare, package and even market your product. You can even work for or in conjunction with one of the major producers. This is certainly the case for many farmers who sell their products all over the world without taking on the full costs.
Staying Green
In farming the best way to stay green is to save resources that would otherwise need to be paid for. For instance, you’ll need a lot of water for your farm to make sure the crops grow and keep animals hydrated. Rather than paying for this water, you can use resources from companies such as Steel Core Tank to catch rainwater, store it and use it when necessary. This is also useful in case of a drought.
Going Intensive
Intensive farming is by far one of the best and easiest ways to save money. Through intensive farming, you will be changing every aspect of your business model, to save the most money. For instance, fields will be purely for growing crops. As for the livestock, they remain inside almost the entire year around so they can be farmed more efficiently. Chemicals are also used to ensure that products grow larger so that they are valuable. While controversial, there is no denying this type of practice can ultimately save farmers a fortune.
As you can see then, there are lots of ways to save in agriculture that could ultimately boost profits dramatically.
