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New App Helps Wisconsin Farmers Determine Hay Prices

UW-Extension Helped Develop App

By
farm, LongitudeLatitude (CC-BY)
LongitudeLatitude (CC-BY).

Farmers wanting to know how much the hay in their field is worth can now turn to their smartphones and an app developed by the University of Wisconsin-Extension for assistance.

If a farmer needs to find the price for corn or soybeans, they check with the Chicago Board of Trade, which updates prices every 10 minutes. It’s not as easy with hay — it doesn’t have an established commodity market.

Greg Blonde, a Waupaca County UW-Extension agriculture agent, said pricing standing hay is challenging, since many variables determine its price. So, he helped develop a free app to help save himself and farmers some time.

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“If you want to say, ‘Oh, by the way, it’s that time of year and I’ve got an opportunity to either buy or sell standing hay,’ we then provide the screens where you can enter the yield, the comparative price you just discovered, as well as harvest costs, cutting schedule,” he said.

The app also shows current hay prices.