The economic cost fact sheet is normally updated annually, while the custom rate survey is updated every few years as economic conditions change. The machinery cost publication has been updated to reflect recent fuel price increases. See also the 1999 Minnesota Farm Custom Rate Survey , which covers a somewhat more extensive list of operations than does the 2001 report. An MS Excel v7.0 spreadsheet template is also available for downloading by users who would like to gain a better understanding of the method used to calculate the numbers published in extension folder FO-6696. It calculates economic costs of operating a tractor or power unit and implements.
Space is provided to compare two different scenarios.
It contains the complete dataset of input data and output tables included in FO-6696. Do we need to adjust our assumptions such as acres covered per hour or per year, etc. Machinery purchase prices change frequently and are affected by the number of options included and other factors, so we are always looking for feedback on how close our estimated prices are to what producers tyically encounter in the marketplace. To contact us by email with feedback or questions, click on Bill Lazarus or the Center for Farm Financial Management . The annual reports of the Southwestern Farm Business Management Association and the Southeastern Farm Business Management Association have information on historical trends in crop and livestock enterprise costs and returns as well as business and financial benchmarking information on a whole farm basis for southern Minnesota.