2012 Nebraska Crop Budgets up 15% from 2011 - UNL CropWatch, Jan. 13, 2012

2012 Nebraska Crop Budgets up 15% from 2011 - UNL CropWatch, Jan. 13, 2012

January 13, 2012

2012 Crop Budgets

Alfalfa PDF Excel®
Corn PDF Excel®
Dry Beans PDF Excel®
Grain Sorghum PDF Excel®
Grass PDF Excel®
Millet PDF Excel®
Oats PDF Excel®
Pastures PDF Excel®
Sorghum-Sudan PDF Excel®
Soybeans PDF Excel®
Sugar Beets PDF Excel®
Sunflower PDF Excel®
Wheat PDF Excel®
Intro & Tables of
Variable Costs
PDF  
For a compiled set of budgets, see 2012 Nebraska Crop Budgets (EC872).

 

The 2012 Nebraska Crop Budgets are now available. They are similar to past years’ budgets, but prices have been updated to reflect expected changes. Other changes include adding a new budget for a no-till, wheat-fallow rotation.

These budgets are available for download in two formats. They are available in the pdf format which is used by Acrobat Reader, a free software package from Adobe that is available on the Internet. They are also available in xlsx format which is Microsoft’s Excel spreadsheet. The spreadsheet format has the advantage of recalculating whenever any input number is changed. Producers who do not have access to Excel should contact their extension educator if they want to see how changes affect budget results.

Prices used for inputs are current prices or estimates obtained from agricultural suppliers. Some of these, such as diesel fuel and fertilizer, are volatile and may change substantially unless they have been locked in.

Wage rates are especially difficult to estimate because in many cases labor is supplied by the operator. Also, there are substantial differences between skill levels required for various farm tasks. The wage rate used to calculate the 2012 budgets was $20 per hour, an increase from the $12 per hour that had been used for several years.

Overall, the average cost per unit of production estimated in the 2012 budgets is nearly 15% higher  than in the 2011 budgets. Overall cost increases were caused by increases in the cost of materials and the cost to operate. The average increase in the price of materials for all crops is just over 8% while the corresponding increase in average operating costs is nearly 33%. While part of this cost is from the increased wage rate and energy prices noted above, part of it reflects increased machinery costs.

Other changes in these budgets include some different practices and chemicals. Information for these changes come from the recommendations of University of Nebraska–Lincoln agronomists, entomologists, and plant pathologists.

Roger Wilson
Extension Farm Management/Enterprise Budget Analyst

 

Online Master of Science in Agronomy

With a focus on industry applications and research, the online program is designed with maximum flexibility for today's working professionals.

A field of corn.