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<br />If backgrounding calves is discounted as a major alternative net returns <br />per acre fall to the 10 to 30 dollar per acre range. These returns might be <br />obtained with favorable bean prices, favorable alfalfa prices, or with grass <br />seed production. Alfalfa prices over about $75,000 per ton could prove to be <br />quite profitable. If alfalfa price falls much below $65.00 per ton, producers <br />might face negative returns even before considering interest on land. <br />Farmers might improve their situation by investigating new crop and <br />livestock possibilities. There are undoubtedly many opportunities for unusual <br />operations to show good returns. <br />It is unfortunate that we cannot give farmers more economic advice, but <br />volatile prices could well make any analysis more harmful than helpful. <br />Producers will have to experiment with new production methods and will have to <br />find new markets for their crops. Experimenting with a variety of crops would <br />help producers absorb price risk, and, in the long run, new and more profitable <br />crops might be discovered. <br />There is much room for producers to work together. Marketing and <br />production problems will be severe enough without producers repeating each <br />other's mistakes and flooding each others markets. Some coordination of <br />markets, transportation services and cropping patterns could go a long way <br />towards increasing net returns. <br />The farmers who survive the adjustment years will not be average farmers. <br />They will be innovators, businessmen, and leaders in their production <br />decisions, and will be willing to take on more risk than was necessary in the <br />past. <br /> <br />iv <br />