Economic Comparison of Selected Processing Alternatives for Alfalfa

Processing alfalfa for export is of significant interest to areas like Millard County, the largest hay-producing county in Utah. In the past year there have ix been significant reductions in the price of hay as a result of increased supplies in the central and western United States. This thesis analyzes the benefits and costs of processing alfalfa into cubes and recompressed bales in order to enter the export market. Costs of production were estimated through the use of enterprise budgets first for the farmer to establish the costs and returns for raising the hay, and secondly for cubing and recompressing the alfalfa at different levels of production and different prices based on those levels of production. The cash flows from these different enterprises were then analyzed using benefit cost ratios, net benefit investment ratios, and internal rates of return. The general conclusion reached is that it is feasible to process alfalfa for export. Profits are sensitive to the price spread between raw and finished products more so than to production efficiencies