2025 Nebraska Crop Budgets Available Now

Nov 11, 2024

Nebraska Extension’s annual Nebraska crop budget projections have been updated for 2025 to assist agricultural producers in managing production costs and making informed financial decisions for the upcoming growing season.

The Nebraska Crop Budgets 2025 publication provides detailed production cost estimates for 83 different crop budgets, including alfalfa, corn, soybeans, wheat, and many others. An irrigated popcorn production (Budget #42) was added for 2025. Each budget includes projections for essential field operations, labor, machinery, fuel, materials, and services, giving producers a complete overview of costs per acre for various production practices and yields. This year’s release incorporates the latest input prices and updated machinery costs, tailored to represent current market conditions in Nebraska.

“The budgets were created using assumptions thought to be valid for many producers in Nebraska,” said Glennis McClure, an extension educator in agricultural economics. “However, each farming operation is unique, so the budgets should be used as a guide when creating your own.”

Budgets are grouped by crop and provided in both Excel and PDF format. They are also included in Nebraska Extension’s free Agricultural Budget Calculator program (ABC), where users can download and modify them to their specific farm operations, adjusting for factors such as input quantities, prices, and individual equipment costs.

"We designed these budgets to reflect typical practices and costs that Nebraska producers might encounter," McClure said. "Each operation is unique, and these budgets serve as a valuable guide to help farmers and ranchers make the best financial decisions for their particular setups."

The 2025 crop budgets were developed and edited by Robert Klein, an extension western Nebraska crop specialist, along with McClure. They include contributions from Nebraska Extension experts in crop production, plant pathology, entomology, weed management, and agricultural economics, among others.

The budgets are available now, along with information about the Agricultural Budget Calculator program, on the Center for Agricultural Profitability’s website, cap.unl.edu/cropbudgets.

Users can also find information on this website about free virtual training sessions in November and December that demonstrate how to use the ABC program and offering Q&A opportunities.

Source : unl.edu

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.