Economic Sustainability Tools for Agronomic Crops- NC Academy

As margins continue to tighten for crop producers, it is even more important for producers to manage costs.   Producers are looking for tools that can help them understand their cost of production not just on a whole farm basis but also on a field-by-field basis. Many of the Excel tools or other crop budgeting tools that are currently available are very extensive and confusing. We have developed a much simpler tool that producers can utilize to show landlords the cost of production on their farm, compare areas of a farm, understand how changing one input can affect the bottom line, or just develop a better marketing plan by knowing their cost of production. A unique aspect with this tool is that inputs can be entered on a per acre, per field, or per farm basis to make it easier to determine cost of production based on how producers’ bills come. This tool is designed to be more than a budgeting tool, but a spreadsheet that can be updated throughout the year as the growing season influences producers’ management decisions on inputs. The tool also includes links to science and research-based resources that can be used to help make input decisions. In addition to the cost of production tool, we’ve developed a slide set, six case studies, and participant survey that Extension professionals can utilize for their own extension programming.  

 

This webinar will provide a brief overview and explanation of the cost of production tool and other resources our team created. This project was created as part of the 2017 North Central ANR Cropping Systems Academy