DECISION AIDS FOR SUGARCANE GROWERS:
 Stubble Replacement Analysis
 and
 Mechanical Harvester Analysis

 Jose Alvarez and Dick Levins*

 (C), 1985, IFAS, UF

 Introduction

 Sugarcane producers are faced with many decision making problems. Two

of these problems, deciding which cane should be allowed to ratoon or be

removed and deciding between owning a mechanical harvester or custom-hiring

the. use of one, are addressed in this manual. The "Sugarcane Stubble Re-

placement Analysis" uses specific information supplied by the user to evalu-
ate the expected returns for both ratoon and replant decisions. The "Mechani-

cal Harvester Analysis" evaluates the economic feasibility of owning a mechani-

cal harvester as opposed to custom-hiring the use of one.

 Getting Started

 Decision Aids for Sugarcane Growers works on IBM-PC microcomputers, or

compatibles, with a minimum configuration of 64K memory and 1 disk drive. A

printer is optional.

 The distribution disk contains three IBM-PC BASICA files: MENU.BAS,

 SUGAR.BAS AND MECH.BAS. To start a session you must first load BASICA by


 Area Economist and Former Extension Farm Management Specialist, Food and
 Resource Economics Department, IFAS, University of Florida; EREC-Belle Glade
 and Gainesville, respectively.
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