Farmers of the OB, have a question

LSUballs said lots of farmers would be drunk by noon today celebrating million $ rain last night and this morn so may take a while to get current 1st hand responses. Used to gross $400-1000/ acre depending on crop. Cost of production/ acre likewise varied for each crop. Only thing that matters is difference between gross and net profit/ acre . Good luck on getting accurate answer here.

You need more than 100 acres... Trust me. If it were poker, the minimum buy in would be something closer to 500 acres just to play the game.

Put up about a dozen chicken houses

Beans are around $11/bushel. 60-70/bushel beans is a good average yield for us, some guys are pushing the 80-90 bushel yields on good irrigated ground. Let's say operation cost are about $475 an acre @ 100 acres your operating cost are $47500. If you can cut 60/bushel beans you'll gross $660 an acre. ($66000/100 acres) So essentially you'll net around 18k.
Corn and cotton prices are terrible and input cost needed to produce a decent crop make it hard to break even.

24,000

Figuring out what you can gross is easy, and that's what gets dicks hard. But, you really need to figure out what you're going to be spending.

I won't post our Breakeven Analysis because it has our farm's name on it, but here's a rundown of things you're going to need to get an idea on:

Rent
Equip costs
Seed, herbicide, pesticides, fungicides, etc
What it will costs to apply this stuff if you don't have your own equipment
Labor costs
Will you have an entemologist?
Cost of harvest and hauling
Fertilizer
Lime/mixed fertilizer
Irrigation costs
Crop insurance
General business expenses (this is where you can really rack it up, or save a little)
Accountant
There's more

Also, just general advice... Always remember the principles of agriculture. Seedbed prep, weed control, timely application, timely harvest, fertilizer in the fall, matching varieties to soil types, etc. If you take care of this, on a normal year, the crop will take care of you.


eta: Our numbers show that cotton is the most stable, but you have to be on top of shite if you're farming cotton. Soybeans have the highest ceiling, but it's a pretty bleak floor also. Corn... frick that shite. We'll continue to grow it for rotation purposes, but we need about 50 cents more/bushel to really make it profitable.

I haven't seen anyone mention wheat yet. No wheat farmers here?

This is an extremely vague question and I dont even know if its possible to take a stab at. It's somewhat easy to est gross revenue on each crops production, but the expenses can vary tremendously. Soil condition & the types of issues that farmers encounter in the area you plan to farm are going to be much more helpful. I dont farm, but I did in the summers several years ago. How much fertilizer you have put out...if you have to put out preplant/post plant insecticide/pesticide. If you are growing under irrigation & whether or not its electric or diesel.