Seeding equipment costs

[ALLFARMER]

I have been paying $3500 to seed my 320 acres for the last 2 years. This winter I bought a JD 9350 20'hoe drill for $4000. That works out to $200/foot or $12.50/acre. A new air seeder would cost $200,000 for likely 53' or $3770/foot. To get to $12.50 acre I would need to seed 16,000 acres. The is still room for the guy starting with nothing to get into farming.

[lakenheath]

Your actual cost is closer to $3.75 per acre for the drill you just purchased. The cost to you in Year 1 is 320 acres divided by the lost value in your machine. I took 30% of $4,000 (which is likely very high) for depreciation = $1,200 / 320 acres = $3.75 per acre. You have remember that if you retired farming after year one you could likely sell those drills for $3,000 to $4,000. Therefore your cost per acres was only the lost value in your machine. $12.50 is your investment per acres in seeding equipment. You measure a return on your investment when you look at the $12.50 you speak of. Anyways, that is my humble opinion.