Abstract

The mechanisation systems of three cooperation schemes located in Linköping, Malmö and Uppsala were analysed in economic and some social terms. The scheme in Linköping is a cooperation of neighbour cereal producers with ca 900 ha, which includes maskinery sharing for field work. The scheme in Malmö is a pool of two farms with an area of 390 ha, and the one in Uppsala consists of six cereal producers with an area of ca. 560 ha where the farms are run as one economic unit. In order to evaluate the effects of machinery cooperation the following steps were taken: (1) basic data on the mechanisation systems of the farms prior and present cooperation were collected, (2) the farmers were interviewed regarding theirs views on the cooperation, and (3) total costs (labour + specific machinery + timeliness costs), investment requirements and field operation times for crop establishment and harvesting were estimated for the farms prior to and during cooperation; and some alternative options. Labour and specific machinery costs were calculated using standard methods, but timeliness cost was estimated using a simulation model with the capability of simulating field work on a farms day-by-day for a series of yeras (15-23 years). The main findings were: Machinery sharing enabled farms to reduce total costs (Table B), but the degree of variation was high for the individual farms. Machinery sharing helped to reduce investment requirements (Table B). Considerable timeliness costs were estimated for all the mechanisation systems with no "excessive capacity". They were difficult to avoid in farms with clayey soils during years with poor weather conditions, particularly in Uppsala location. Their annual range was large (100-1100 SEK/ha). The sensitivity analysis showed that timeliness costs were more affected by a reduction in daily effective field capacity than an increase of the same magnitude, in particulary for those machinery sets with low capacity. All the farmers participating in the cooperation schemes were satisfied with the results achieved after some years of machinery sharing and pointed out that it decreased their vulnerability and risks. Furthermore, working in a team was also highly appreciated. Tabell A. Ändring i procent av kostnader1 och investeringsbehov för jordbearbetning, sådd och skörd för maskinsamarbeten i form av gemensam drift jämfört med en informell maskinsamverkan mellan grannar i Linköping2 och utan samarbete i Malmö och Uppsala Linköping Malmö Uppsala Arbetskostnad -8 -49 -40 Maskinkostnad -23 -31 -36 Läglighetskostnad +214 +98 +27 Totala kostnader -6 -31 -30 Investeringsbehov -55 -18 -56 1 I denna tabell utgör “maskinkostnad” den största kostnadsposten följt av “arbetskostnad” och den minsta kostnadsposten är “läglighetskostnad”, se tabellen 15 för absoluta belopp. 2 Samverkansalternativet “Alt2” i alla område. För detaljer om mekaniseringssystem, se tabellerna 7-11. Considering the farming conditions of the farms comprising the present work, which are rather common for many Swedish farms in terms of soil type, farm size, crops and part-time farmers, the study concluded that more integrated machinery cooperation schemes would be very interesting options to be considered, particularly for farms less than 150 ha

Published in

Rapport. Miljö, teknik och lantbruk
2005, number: 3
Publisher: SLU, Institutionen för biometri och teknik

SLU Authors

• De Toro, Alfredo

  • Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Rosenqvist, Håkan

  • Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Agricultural Science


Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/5675