Optimal Management Strategies for Alfalfa Production Within a Total Farm Plan

This paper examines the impacts of alternative management strategies for the production of alfalfa within the context of a total farm plan. A linear programming model is used to represent a 600-acre farm which can grow either grain crops or alfalfa. Alfalfa production competes with the grain crops for available land, labor, machinery, and field time over a calendar of tillage, planting, cutting, spraying, and harvesting activities. The profitability of an acre of alfalfa and the contribution of alfalfa to net returns for the farm varies quite widely depending on the particular alfalfa management strategy selected.