Photo: Wikideas1 / Wikimedia Commons, CC0
A lot of Iowa farmers hire out at least some of their field and livestock work, and every spring Iowa State University Extension publishes the numbers on what that costs.
The Iowa Farm Custom Rate Survey collects rates from custom operators, farmers and farm managers around the state. It gives ranges and averages for jobs like tillage, planting, spraying, combining, grain hauling, baling and manure application. The 2022 edition came out in May.
Those numbers are used all over the county. A farmer deciding whether to buy a sprayer or hire one out can compare the cost. Landlords and tenants use them to set fair rates for custom work in lease agreements. Custom operators use them to check their own pricing.
Rates in 2022 reflected sharply higher fuel, labor and equipment costs than a year earlier. The survey is free from ISU Extension’s Ag Decision Maker website.
Dale Brekke writes for Clarion News Online.