Corteva Agriscience has developed a new resource for ranchers that showcases how adopting sound pasture management practices can translate directly to an operation’s overall profit potential.

"Disrupting Pasture Management: Adopting a Profit-Per-Acre Approach," a new white paper from Corteva Agriscience, discusses how making changes to the way pasture is tended can turn a beef operation from a price-per-pound enterprise to a profit-per-acre business, the company said in an announcement.

“Profitability in ranching hinges on pounds of beef sold and the cost to produce those pounds,” Dr. Scott Flynn, zonal biology leader at Corteva Agriscience, said. “Ranchers are making important choices about where they’re spending money. While many don’t consider investing in their pastures a top priority, doing so could translate into an almost-instant return on investment and drive their operational profitability long term.”

Anytime commodity markets pull back, economists remind ranchers about the importance of targeting resources where they generate the greatest return. With feed coming in as a cattle producer’s number-one expense and grazed forage their lowest-cost feed source, intensifying pasture management can help productivity and cost containment, Corteva Agriscience said.

“Too often, pasture management is thought of as a turn-out-and-forget-it enterprise,” Flynn added. However, “much like crop production, grazing land demands frequent scouting and fine-tuning to reach its full yield potential. Cattle producers who shift their thinking and make small changes to their current practices can maximize their existing acres and see a direct return on investment (ROI).”

In the white paper, available for download at RangeAndPasture.com/ROI, Flynn provides insights on how implementing practices like rotational grazing and effective weed control can help maximize pasture ROI and advance sustainability, the announcement said.

Flynn said the goal is to increase usable forage and access to it by reducing undesirable weeds and brush, relying less on expensive mowing and implementing a sound grazing plan.

Corteva Agriscience is a publicly traded, global pure-play agriculture company. It became an independent public company on June 1, 2019, and was previously the Agriculture Division of DowDuPont.