COP

[Horse]

With all the whining on the cop is anyone ready to post actual # as someone said did you realy need to spray 17 timesa , did you need 200# N , did you need that 50thou$ gadget for the tractor and another for the combine. How much$ per acre invested. And who pushes the price opf land up,up,up? Everyone can whine about thier cop but sure would be interesting to see just what they think are essentials.

[SASKFARMER3]

Horse you must not farm you call stating a fact seed Fert Chem costs that are out of hand whining! I call it stating s fact!
Explain why the one year our prices go up they increase theirs by 10 fold then cant reduce! Just can't! As long as farmers argue amongst them selves industry wins its us against them and they need us! Parasites always need a host!

[Hamloc]

In response on COP I try to keep my costs down pre buying and storing Fert which saved me 30 dollars an acre. A lot of my machinery is older lower payments higher repairs prob 15 to 20 dollars an acre there for repairs on average. Fuel is now a big issue as well. One point I agree with sask 3 on is with lower prices for grain Fert and canola seed going up seems extremely out of line. Having said that farmers continue to buy it and bid up rent and land prices and buy lots of shiny equipment so it is hard to feel sorry for them. If they were truly worried they would change.

[macdon02]

My COP has doubled since 02. Average $300 today. Sask ag isn't far off

[freewheat]

My average is about 180.

[farmaholic]

Why compare? It only matters that "you sell" the crop "you bought" for a *reasonable* margin above cost. Which will prove tough with some crop's quality and quantity issues and prices this year.

[Daylate]

$180 variable (disappears into dirt)
$110 fixed (disappears into thin air)

[freewheat]

I think comparing shows that there is more than one way to farm, and that bigger is not always more "efficient". I'm good with comparing.

[bgmb]

I think it has nothing to do with size and everything to do with how good of a farmer you are and how highly leveraged you are, end of story.

[ado089]

It also has to do with where great grandpa settled. My fert bill is 25% more than my dad's and yield 20% less. He farms rich black soil and I farm hilly brown dirt.

[Richard5]

Free wheat, as much as I like your down to earth posts, I think you are not including all the right items in your cop

If a small or medium sized farm needs 30 to 50 for living. Even conservative production cost of fert, chem, seed, fuel and crop ins run 140 to 160.

Everyone understands cop differently and many don't include various items

[JDGreen]

Ado .. Something just peaked my interest.. You indicated you may farm With your father and there may be disparity with yields and land quality?? Any chance you may elaborate a little more ? Only Interested cause I've been through this myself. If it's anything like my situation was, I had to take a hard stand to rectify the problem.. Best thing I ever did..

[ado089]

JD, I don't really think my dad wanted me to farm. I got kicked off the farm for 5 years after university "to make sure farming was what I wanted to do". I saved up and at the end of year 5 I informed my dad I had bought seven quarters and rented 10 more. Since then we've been operating separate operations but sharing labour and machinery. The trouble is the only land I could afford was 65 miles and two soil zones away. He farms some of the best black soil in the NW and I farm some of the worst brown soil on the planet. At the end of the day we have more or less the same fixed costs but my variable costs are much higher to grow less crop.

[freewheat]

Richard, 180 is what I need to survive to the next year. We are a funny farm. We are frugal. We grow food for ourselves. My wife shops smartly. We "make" a lot of money by being this way. We do not buy toys. We do not buy high priced land. We do not rent high priced land. My cash costs are about 110 an acre. Rent spread over acres is less than 15. Land payments spread over acres is about 16. Iron payments are about 5. Just a few examples...

So when bad times come, we buckle up and live cheap because we know how. This is more my point than a number. All I know, is if I needed 300 bucks, I would be long ago broke with the weather we have had... So we adapted to poor production levels. And we try our best not to whine and complain about that which we can not
control. Except for this foresaken weather!

[Daylate]

$180 variable (disappears into dirt)
$110 fixed (disappears into thin air)