Iowa Farm Custom Rate Survey Shows Slight Increases For 2015

Feb 27, 2015

By Alejandro Plastina, Ann Johanns

Rates for custom machine work and services are showing a steady increase again for 2015, according to the 2015 Iowa Farm Custom Rate Survey. The service categories that were surveyed include information on tillage, planting, spraying, harvesting and hauling grain and forages. Also included are values for miscellaneous services, and machinery and grain storage rental.

Alejandro Plastina, economist with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, indicates that expected farm custom rates for 2015 increased 1.2 percent from their 2014 survey results.

“In dollar terms, rates are 19 cents higher on average. However, 90 percent of the changes in custom rates range between a decline of $2.10 and an increase of $2.20 from their 2014 levels, averaging only a 1-cent increase,” said Plastina.

Reported values on the survey are averaged from all the received responses for each category. The range of the highest and lowest responses received is also reported. The values survey participants report are what they expect to pay or charge in the coming year. These values are intended only as a guide to help both custom operators and people who hire custom work done arrive at a reasonable rate.

A total of 166 Iowa farmers, custom operators and farm managers replied to the survey. Twenty-five percent of them reported that they performed custom work for others, 11 percent reported hiring custom work done and 64 percent indicated that they did both.

There are many reasons why the rate charged in a particular situation should be above or below the average. These include the timeliness with which operations are performed, quality and special features of the machine, operator skill, size and shape of fields, number of acres contracted, and the condition of the crop for harvesting. The availability of custom operators in a given area also will affect rates.

Ag Decision Maker offers a Decision Tool to help custom operators and other farmers estimate their own costs for specific machinery operations

Source:iastate.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.