A study on the determining silage corn production cost: the case of Van Province, Turkey

High productivity in livestock enterprises requires the farm animals to be fed well throughout the year. Moreover, it has been known that it is not possible to meet the need for roughage as fresh throughout the year in animal husbandry and various methods have been preferred to meet this need. For that reason, corn, cereals, assorted millet and sudangrass, alfalfa and sainfoin, sugar beet leaves, sunflower, tree branches and leaves, industrial waste pulp have commonly been ensiled for the feeding of farm animals. Among these, corn is the most easily ensiled forage crop containing high level of carbohydrate. Furthermore, corn has dependently been an indispensable source of roughage because it has been consumed fondly by farm animals, rich in energy, green in winter, juicy and economical, and the best and cheapest nutrition source for the livestock. Therefore, corn is the leading crop for silage. Corn also provides the advantage of eliminating the problem of weed storage and reducing the costs of storage for enterprises. Due to these specified characteristics of corn, it has been understood that the importance of silage corn production has started to increase in recent years and the researches carried out on the cost of silage corn have gained importance. The need for studies at local level has also increased. In this study, it was aimed to calculate the cost of silage corn production in the province of Van where animal production was administered intensely. Within the scope of the research, face-to-face questionnaires were performed with 46 enterprises corresponding to 40% of 116 enterprises producing silage corn in Van Province in 2020. As result of the research, forward-looking explanatory information was presented in terms of production cost, gross production value, variable costs and calculation of gross margin of silage corn spreading to be produced increasingly widespread throughout Turkey and developing corn production planning carried out by local farmers.