CropChoices updated for 2022

This popular budgeting and economic modeling tool can help when finalizing crop plans for this year.

“This is the time of the year to be finalizing 2022 crop plans,” says Manglai, production crops economist with Alberta Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Economic Development. “CropChoice$ is a crop planning and risk management decision-making tool that helps forecast revenues and margins for that crop enterprise by using inputs and then calculating the probabilities of achieving the results.”

CropChoice$ helps users make better management decisions about cropping enterprises because it identifies, measures and manages risk. It also supports users to evaluate various risk management strategies such as changing the crop mix, buying crop insurance and negotiating land rental arrangements.

The latest edition features current crop insurance options, including updated risk coverage levels from Agriculture Financial Services Corporation (AFSC). It also includes projected crop costs covering up to 40 dryland and irrigated crops depending on location.

Manglai points out the 2022 version cannot be used to analyze the option of purchasing the Spring Price Endorsement (SPE), as effective March 15, 2021 AFSC announced the SPE program had been discontinued.

“CropChoice$ recognizes that future crop yields and prices cannot be known precisely,” Manglai explains. “To reflect this, users enter worst, best and most likely values for yields and prices. Varying yield and price information based on individual expectations will give a clearer and more accurate forecast than traditional linear budgets.”

He adds that the user’s inputs for expected prices and yields in CropChoice$ help forecast potential gross margins and profitability expectations for several crop plans.

“It is a very easy program to set up and use, and the manual itself is an excellent resource for understanding the program. Once it is downloaded, double click on the icon, choose start from the welcome screen and get ready to create and compare crop plans.”

These updates support Alberta Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Economic Development’s commitment of risk management decision tools for the crop industry.