Farm the Best, Leave the Rest: Boosting Profitability can Come From an Unlikely Strategy

FARMERS ARE ALWAYS on the lookout for ways to maximize profits, but it’s not just about farming more acres — it’s about farming smart. This offers a transformative approach: identify low-yielding, high-cost areas of fields and consider turning them into non-crop zones to save money and promote sustainability.

Not all land is created equal. Some areas of a field may consistently yield less, which often results in wasted resources — money spent on seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides that don’t produce adequate returns.

“Farmers already know which parts of their fields are unprofitable, but they’re often in a gray area about marginal sections that may only turn a profit some years,” says Paul Galpern, director of the Agriculture, Biodiversity and Conservation Lab at the University of Calgary.

“If we can help them pinpoint the parts of their fields that are consistently costing them money, it opens up opportunities to use those areas in ways that could provide other benefits.”

By taking a data-driven approach, researchers are working alongside farmers to use a blend of precision agriculture data and satellite imagery. The Prairie Precision Sustainability Network (PPSN), a collaboration between the University of Calgary and University of Saskatchewan, is developing models to help farmers make informed decisions about which areas of their land may be better suited to non-crop purposes.

“We combine data from our grower collaborators with satellite imagery, building models that allow us to predict which parts of fields are most profitable and which are more marginal,” Galpern says.

The Benefits of Going Non-Crop
Switching certain areas of a field from crop to non-crop vegetation can lead to multiple benefits, both financial and ecological. For instance, farmers might see “halo effects” in nearby crops — slight yield increases resulting from pollinator support or natural pest control that comes from non-crop vegetation.

“In canola fields, for example, pollinators that rely on the flowers in non-crop areas can help boost yields in adjacent crops, though the effects vary based on conditions,” Galpern says.