EC05-838 Alternative Crop Budgets and Decision Making

he Nebraska Panhandle presents many unique op-portunities for agricultural producers interested in alternative crops. Traditional crops grown in the area are sugarbeets, dry edible beans, alfalfa hay, and corn on irrigated acres and wheat on dryland acres. The potential benefits of crop. diversification include increased profit, reduced wind and water erosion, improved use oflabor resources, and reduced economic and produc-tion risk. Althougtr these benefits have been discussed for years, adopting alternative crops is a difficult process for many producers. The barriers to including alternative crops in the rotation are significant enough to offset the benefits to producers who have difficulty meeting cash flow and profitability constraints. Some of these barriers include government policies that are designed to support traditiona