What Enterprise is Sustainable for Me?

Switchgrass

To evaluate how well this enterprise aligns with your farm's agronomic, marketing, financial and management resources, answer these five questions. Then, calculate your score.

Using a scale from 0 to 100, scores indicate your farm's likely success with an enterprise.

The icons link to resources you can use to answer these questions.

QUESTIONS
HELP ME ANSWER THIS
1. Because seeding costs can be substantial and during the crop's establishment year there is no income, are you willing to wait two years before gaining substantial income from the crop?

Yes
No


2. Are there available markets for the crop within a realistic distance of your farm location?

Yes
No


3. Do you have access to the equipment necessary to harvest, handle, store, or transport biomass (or is there are custom harvest company willing to do this)?

Yes
No


4. Is removing erodible land from crop production important to you?

Yes
No


5. Do you intend to plant a bioenergy crop as a double crop after soybeans or a full season crop?

Double crop after soybeans
Full season crop
What are your typical double crop soybean yields?
What are your typical full season soybean crop yields?


Your ResultsX
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Respond to the questions for an enterprise. Each question touches on a key factor that affects an enterprise's sustainability on your farm.
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Icons to the side of questions direct to other decision tools that share detailed information about a question's topic.
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After completing all questions for an enterprise, calculate your score. A pop-up page will share your results. Scores closer to 100 suggest the enterprise would align well with your farm. Scores closer to 0 suggest the enterprise would not fit as well, based on your responses to the questions.