Doing sugarcane for the first time, but is it worth it?

[Purno]

After farming the base crops for a steady income, I've now started sugarcane for the very first time. I've merged fields 16 and 17 on the new platinum map and bought the best equipment. But well... I'm starting to wonder if it's all worth it.

Farming sugarcane with a 2m working width takes ages, and because the harvester has no own storage, I need to drive my truck next to it the whole time. Going up and down the field once gives me a close to full tipper, which is 70000 litres in size. I'm storing that in the grain elevator which is nearby fortunately, but after harvesting a third of the field, the elevator is full.

My main worries about sugarcane is that;
1. It takes ages to harvest
2. It takes up a lot of space while having a low value

I'm playing my game solo. I use the AI to harvest, and drive my truck to gather the harvest and store it. What would you recommend me to do with my fields and equipment? Keep the sugarcane or plant something else there? Sell the equipment or use another (smaller?) field to plant sugarcane?

[Arcticspyder]

I replanted my sugarcane fields after 1 crop. Simply not worth it in my opinion.

[Zombie]

I do not bother with cane I might do it if i can get the 2 row planter and harvester. But for the time it takes (if you self plant/harvest) or the cost (hire plant/harvest) it is not worth it unless you have a mod that utilizes the can to make other finished products that you can sell. I.e. a rum mod or refined sugar mod.

Finished goods give a much better profit.

[mattgo]

No. Without mods you have to harvest it yourself (can't use a worker) and it takes a very long time. High yield but very low price. You can use a worker to harvest it but you have to drive alongside. Even if you get the harvester with a tipper attached to the back a worker will only do 1 row. Totally not worth it. I sold the equipment and cultivated and planted other things shortly after trying sugar cane.

[Purno]

Yeah, I'm considering to just cultivate the fields and plant something else.

Would it be worth switching to potatoes or sugar beets? I don't have the equipment yet, but the fields are nearby a grain elevator, which makes storing and transporting large quantities easier.

Or would I better off sticking to the normal crops? Especially crops like sunflowers, soy bean and canola take up little space, quite some value per litre.

[Tankfriend]

Originally posted by Purno:

Would it be worth switching to potatoes or sugar beets? I don't have the equipment yet, but the fields are nearby a grain elevator, which makes storing and transporting large quantities easier.

Might not be as extreme as sugarcane, but they're still cheap crops with massive yields and equipment that has little working width to offer...

Or would I better off sticking to the normal crops? Especially crops like sunflowers, soy bean and canola take up little space, quite some value per litre.

The price is good, but the volume of the crop is limited, so you end up making less money. On the other hand, it's more comfortable to handle than the huge piles of potatoes, beets and sugarcane.

[Purno]

Why is limited volume a bad thing? Price per volume is high, so the total yield per hectare should be roughly the same, but I need less transport and less storage, right? Or am I miscalculating here?

[mattgo]

At least potatoes and sugarbeets the equipment has a place to hold it so you can hire a worker to do it and just have to get it when it fills up, and the expensive sugarbeet harvester has 45,000 l capacity.

[Zombie]

potatos give low price per liter but you get a high amount of potatos per acre and if you are just looking for a single crop then potatos give the best price in the end. But prices will go down to low if that is the only crop you are selling at one place.

https://www.reddit.com/r/farmingsimulator/comments/5bc1jc/farming_simulator_17_crop_yields_and_prices/

[Tankfriend]

Originally posted by Purno:

Why is limited volume a bad thing? Price per volume is high, so the total yield per hectare should be roughly the same, but I need less transport and less storage, right? Or am I miscalculating here?

It's about the same level as wheat and barley, as long as you don't also sell the straw.

But the volume on beet, potatoes and cane is so much larger that they theoretically earn you more money despite the low price. Question is whether or not that higher income is balanced out by the higher starting investment and time needed.

[troyholst]

i haven't gotten around to planting sugarcane yet myself but here are 2 mods that i have n plan to use when i do. if anyone wants to check them out here are the links

note i get that not all mods fit every ones playing style. so please keep that in mind if u reply to this post thx

the first is for a site that has a sugarcane pack it first one top left its sugarcane harvester ect in it
https://bdbssb3.wixsite.com/mods/equipment

second is a placeable that take only sugarcane n makes it in-to white n yellow(brown)sugar
http://www.modhub.us/farming-simulator-2017-mods/placeable-sugar-factory-v1-1/