Updated March, 2023
File A3-10

Iowa Farm Custom Rate Survey

Many Iowa farmers hire some custom machine work in their farm business or perform custom work for others. Others rent machinery or perform other services. The Iowa Farm Custom Rate Survey was mailed to 316 people by the US Postal Service and 237 people via e-mail in mid-February 2023. The information below is based on a survey of 94 usable responses and 2,621 custom rates provided by Iowa farmers, custom operators, and farm managers. Twenty percent of the respondents perform custom work, 14% hire work done, 59% indicated doing both, and 6% indicated doing neither, and 1% did not indicate whether they perform or hire custom work.

For each operation, the average rate from the survey, the median, and the range are shown. The average is calculated as the simple average of all responses. The median is the middle number among the ordered responses (from smallest to largest). The reported range excludes the minimum and the maximum values to avoid reporting outliers.

The reported rates are expected to be charged or paid in 2023, and they include fuel and labor (unless otherwise noted). The average price for diesel fuel (highway-retail including taxes) was assumed to be $3.39 per gallon (as projected by the US Energy Information Administration in early February 2023). Rental rates for some machinery items are shown in the last section of this report, along with a worksheet for estimating rental rates for other items.

This rate schedule is intended only as a guide. Actual custom rates may vary according to availability of machinery in a given area, timeliness, operator skill, field size and shape, crop conditions, and the performance characteristics of the machine being used.

Note: All rates include fuel, repairs, depreciation, interest, labor, and all other machinery costs for the tractor and implement, unless otherwise noted.

The Iowa Farm Custom Rate Survey is presented in the accompanying "pdf" file that you can access by clicking here or on the icon above.

View past publications of the Iowa Farm Custom Rate Survey.

Links to custom rate data from other states can be accessed here.


Alejandro Plastina, extension economist, 515-294-6160, plastina@iastate.edu
Ann M. Johanns, extension program specialist, 515-337-2766, aholste@iastate.edu

Author

Alejandro Plastina

extension economist
515-294-6160
View more from this author

Author

Ann M. Johanns

extension program specialist
515-337-2766
View more from this author