Economics of the Greenseeder Hand Planter

Abstract

Core Ideas Break‐even corn yield increase for a US$50 Greenseeder hand planter is 1.12%. A US$50 Greenseeder hand planter needs to use 12.19% fewer seeds, and reduces labor man‐days by 38.66%. If used for fertilization, the Greenseeder hand planter could increase corn yields up to 10.82%. The Greenseeder hand planter would pay for itself if used to apply fertilizer alone. Corn (Zea mays L.) yields in developing countries are lower than in developed countries, in part due to planting methods that involve hand dropping of multiple seeds per hill. The Greenseeder hand planter (GHP) was developed to reduce seeding rates and long‐term health risks from using bare hands to drop pesticide‐treated seeds. When used to apply fertilizer, it can prevent loss of N from ammonia volatilization. This research determines economic break‐even levels of seed and labor savings, increases in corn yield, and reduced loss of N through reduced ammonia volatilization. A GHP used to plant 3 ha yr–1 that costs US$50 would need to increase corn yields on average by about 1.12%, use 12.19% fewer seeds, or reduce labor man‐days by 38.66% to equal expected net returns from traditional methods. Using the GHP to apply fertilizer would on average increase corn yields up to 10.82% ha–1 due to reduced N loss from ammonia volatilization and thus fertilization alone could be enough to pay for the planter.