NEW 2012 Custom Rates and Land Rental Rates for Area

The 2012 Iowa Farm Custom Rate Survey is now available!

Many Iowa farmers hire some custom machine work done in their farm business, or perform custom work for others. Others rent machinery or perform other services. The information below is based on survey responses from 276 Iowa farmers, custom operators and farm managers. For each operation, the average rate and the range reported are shown. Twenty-eight percent of the respondents perform custom work, 11 percent hire work done, and 61 percent indicated doing both. Values below are rates expected to be charged or paid this year, and include tractor, implement, fuel and labor. The average price for diesel fuel was assumed to be $3.25 per gallon. A fuel price increase of $0.50 per gallon will cause total machinery costs to increase by approximately 5 percent. 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. Rental rates for some machinery items are shown, along with a worksheet for estimating rental rates for other items. Note: All rates include fuel, labor and all other machinery costs for the tractor and implement.

You may also find this survey and many more valuable resources on the Ag Decision Maker website.