Abstract
The economic impact on harvest and silage contractors of extending the optimum harvest period by combining whole crop silage (WCS) rice varieties with different maturation periods was investigated using on-site case studies and the results of cultivation experiments. It was found that, in cases where public financial support was received when introducing machinery for the first time, for a work fee set at 2,500 yen per round bale, the break-even point for operating the machinery could not be reached if only the very late maturing variety “Tachiaoba” was cultivated, whereas it was estimated that it could be achieved if “Tachiaoba” were cultivated in combination with the early maturing variety “Makimizuho” and the very early maturing variety “Yumeaoba”. Accordingly, using a combination of varieties with different maturation periods was assessed as contributing to the stabilization of contractors’ finances. However, because public financial support cannot be received when updating machinery, in that case the break-even point could not be reached even when using the three-variety combination. In order for the work to be financially viable, we believe that it is necessary to further extend the harvest period by adding WCS barley varieties, and to raise the work fee per unit by the feeding value of rice WCS.
