Because of the perennial nature of alfalfa, stand longevity has a significant influence on profitability. Any decision must be considered for its effect on an individual harvest, as well as the productivity during the rest of the stand-life. The most important keys to profitable and environmentally sound alfalfa management are field monitoring, maintaining good records, and then using this information to make the proper decisions. The costs associated with any decision often limit the range of options available to producers. Efficient management will tie together production, economics, and marketing in making effective decisions.
Decisions made by producers often depend on technical, economic, and environmental considerations.
To maintain profitable operations, producers must continually weigh available management options, technical and economic constraints, potential risks, and environmental consequences. Economic constraints include business liquidity or credit, other farm resources, potential market prices, and availability of alternative inputs including producer time. Technical constraints refer to the availability of various management strategies and reliability of these strategies. Environmental and safety constraints include safeguarding environmental resources, including the farm operator's family and farm workers. Of all possible decisions a producer may make, relatively few will be effective from economic, technical, and environmental standpoints.