Luzerne Grain Farmers Shift Focus from Yield to Profit
Blakslee Masters, co-owner of Haz-Wald Farms in Luzerne County, Pa., has given up on achieving high yields. Instead, she focuses on managing input costs to increase profitability.
The farm's 1,600 acres produce corn, soybeans, and winter wheat. To reduce erosion and lower nitrogen use, Masters uses cover crops, which also trim some input costs without sacrificing yield.
She settled on a blend of oats, peas, buckwheat, sunflowers, clover, turnips, and radishes. The Masters target the cover crop planting to their winter wheat fields immediately after harvesting in July using an air seeder that they consider a worthwhile investment due to its efficiency.
The incorporation of cover crops has resulted in significant cost savings for Haz-Wald Farms. In one field where a cover crop was planted, the average corn yield remained steady from 2023 to 2025, but the input costs decreased by about $4 per acre.