Potato Value per Acre vs Other Crops (Corn in This Case)

[dogwalker1]

Playing on Alma, MO, with Seasons and PF... I've found that per acre harvested potatoes bring in 4-6 times the revenue that corn does - does that make any sense? I'm using the same two fields for each half of the comparison... When I started both fields already had a potato crop ready to harvest, but with rock bottom PH, nitrates and "needs plowing"... Got $480K out of the potatoes at peak market price. The next year I planted corn in both fields, but with the PH and nitrates brought up to snuff (and with plowing done, for good measure). For the corn harvest I'm only going to pull in around $120K at peak market price.

I've read in another thread that potatoes are the most profitable crop in the game per acre (and I'm fine with that as they involve more work), but does such a drastic difference sound right? By volume I believe I got around 2.4 million litres of potatoes vs 225,000 litres of corn. (Or maybe something's wrong with the corn yield?? The fields combined measure about 6 3/4 HA.)

PS: full disclosure, I'm also using the Crop Rotation mod - the crop rotation rating for the corn harvest was "Perfect" (115%). I didn't take note of what it was for the initial potato harvest but I don't imagine it will have been better than "Perfect".

[Eische]

Just checked xml files for Alma map.
It is using basegame values for yields and sell prices. And with that, potatoes should give you about 2x the profit per acre compared to corn or other grain crops.

By looking at your field sizes and yields, something seems to be very off.
With 6.75 ha yields for perfect field should look like this:
potatoes : about 560k liters
corn : 124k liters

There is definitely something weird happening.

[NewHollandLegend]

I’ve never really looked into the yielding stats with potatoes, i’ve only really done contracts in regards to potatoes. I just started a Let’s play on Alma MO and I’m thinking about planting a smaller field with potatoes to either sell or use for pigs or something. I’m not sure whether I’m better off selling the crop in bulk or it’s more profitable using it for some type of animal feed… happy farming

[dogwalker1]

Just checked xml files for Alma map.
It is using basegame values for yields and sell prices. And with that, potatoes should give you about 2x the profit per acre compared to corn or other grain crops.

By looking at your field sizes and yields, something seems to be very off.
With 6.75 ha yields for perfect field should look like this:
potatoes : about 560k liters
corn : 124k liters

There is definitely something weird happening.

Thanks for that info. I'm wondering if it's the crop rotation mod doing something weird then at game start. Will look into verifying that.

[Eische]

Might be a good idea.
I'm not using the crop rotation mod, so have no experience. But if it creates that much of a difference, something is not right.

[b101uk]

mmm, if you factor in a small element of time and limit things to in-game (none mod equipment), you can argue beet are more profitable than potatoes.

as beet are notably faster and cheaper to plant (*) due to wider planters, they are also notably faster to harvest due to wider harvester, as you can put the ROPA RR-XL 9X45 beet header on the ROPA PANTHER 2 beet harvester, giving a 4m working width as opposed to the narrower ~3m working width of the largest SP potato harvester, the ROPA PANTHER 2 with 4m header is also much better in small field than VENTOR 4150 potato harvester.

you also have the added option of chopping beet for extra value at sell points, if you use the FLIEGL RUBY 2000 front bucket (in conjunction with some conveyer belts)

* yes you can put potatoes in the potato planter from prior harvest that are in essence "free" so to speak, but they STILL have value if sold, relative to the total seed cost of beet to establish the same field area.

[DanL58]

Yes, potatoes can be very lucrative but I think you need to consider the extra time and labor required to grow them. Unless you are using some of the very unrealistic mods available potato equipment is expensive, slow & has narrow working widths. It takes a lot more labor to produce potatoes than other crops.

[LittleWatt]

Well, potatoes were less profitable than sugar beets for a long time, and bother were replaced as most profitable by sugar cane in FS17. And I think it could now be poplars. Especially since the Platinum expansion and any map updated with the new prices. Woodchips go for $900 to $1500 per 1k in the winter and the same price as potatoes the rest of the year. And poplars have a higher yield than potatoes. And the next is still going to be sugarcane. The new root crops are probably more profitable than potatoes too. A higher yield (equal to sugar beets in most cases) and higher prices.

Of course time is a factor as are other costs like seeds. Sugarcane has high seed costs as do potatoes. Carrots/parsnips have negligible seed costs. I am using Precision Farming. It doesn’t effect anything but sugar beets though. On the flip side sugarcane and poplars regrow each year, so you get 3 harvests per seeding if you use periodic plowing.

I haven’t done any deep dives into profit, no spreadsheets or anything, but given the high yield/high value of poplars, I would say they are far more profitable than potatoes. In fact sugar beets are even more profitable. Sure the have less value but enough extra yield to qualify as better. And sugar beets have better harvesters available.

Of course it’s a moot point if you’re considering grass silage to the BGA as a “crop.” Nothing beats grass silage to the BGA.