2014 Custom Rate Survey Results Now Available

May 16, 2014

LINCOLN, Neb. — The 2014 Nebraska Farm Custom Rate survey results are now available, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension farm management specialist says.

These surveys, conducted every two years, consist of two parts, said Roger Wilson, farm management specialist in the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Part I contains 110 spring and summer operations including tillage, fertilizing, planting, spraying and waste handling. Part II contains 46 harvesting and 14 miscellaneous operations.

The survey is sent to people who have been identified as doing custom farm work, Wilson said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has divided the state into eight crop-reporting districts. Results from the surveys are tabulated for each of these districts as well as the whole state.

The rates are published online in UNL Extension Circular EC823, 2014 Nebraska Farm Custom Rates – Part I, and EC826, 2014 Nebraska Farm Custom Rates – Part II.

The rates can also be accessed via the CropWatch website at http://cropwatch.unl.edu/economics/customrates or the Department of Agricultural Economics website at http://agecon.unl.edu/resource.html.

Printed copies are available for $3.75 at http://marketplace.unl.edu/.

Four results are provided for each operation: the number reporting, the average rate of those reporting, the range of replies and the most common rate charged, Wilson said.

A minimum of three replies are required for each operation or the results are not reported.

Rates were compared between 2012 and 2014 for three operations where there were a large number of responses.

The first was disk harrowing, tandem or offset, finishing harrowing per acre. The average rate statewide increased from $9.26 per acre in 2012 to $12.24 in 2014. The most common rate remained $10 per acre for both years.

No-till drilling of soybeans was another category where there was another large number of responses, Wilson said. The average price went from $14.83 per acre in 2012 to $17.04 in 2014. The most common charge remained at $15 per acre for both years.

Combining soybeans was the third operation where rates between 2012 and 2014 were compared. The average rate increased from $29.54 per acre in 2012 to $31.41 per acre in 2014. The most common rate remained $30 per acre for both years.

These three operations were chosen because there were 70 or more responses to them, Wilson said.

"It is interesting that in each case the average went from being less than the most common rate to be greater," he said. "This indicates there is a reluctance to raise rates by a large number of operators even though average rates are increasing."