Which consideration, if true, should make the farmer most hesitant to… | Verbal SAT Question

Economic Indicators of Goat Farms in France by Feeding System in 2018

Feeding system	Amount of milk per goat per year (kg)	Milk revenue (€ per goat per year)	Feeding cost (€ per goat per year)	Gross margin (€ per goat per year)
Grazing	705	480.8	152.9	364
Fresh forage	860	617.5	248.5	364
Corn silage	931	653.6	220.6	456
Alfalfa hay	925	649.4	245.1	423

While Spain, India, and France are established leaders in the global goat dairy industry, countries like Italy and Brazil have smaller but growing goat dairy sectors. Seeking the feeding system that will give her the greatest profit, a Northern Italian farmer consults research published in 2018 by the Institut de l’Élevage (French Livestock Institute) comparing the economic indicators of different feeding systems on French goat farms.

Gross margin refers to the profit after subtracting certain costs (e.g., feeding cost) from total revenue, which may include more than milk revenue.

Which consideration, if true, should make the farmer most hesitant to rely on what the table suggests is the most profitable feeding system?

The labor costs of grazing livestock in Northern Italy (e.g., herding, fencing, and moving) are likely comparable with those in France; however, farmland in Northern Italy that is suitable for grazing is scarcer and may be more expensive than in rural southern and central France, where many French goat farms are located.

If properly processed and stored under airtight conditions, corn silage can retain its quality for over a year; hence, feeding systems that use corn silage are assured of a consistent feed supply that is less vulnerable to weather conditions than are more traditional feeding systems, such as grazing.

Corn silage is typically mixed with soybean meal; hence, the feeding cost associated with corn silage is likely to fluctuate with the global price of soybeans, a commodity whose price is forecast to rise sharply in coming years.

Feeding goats alfalfa hay requires more initial capital investment than does feeding them corn silage since specialized harvesting and storage equipment are needed to process and preserve the hay.