Production Costs in Iowa

Corn and soybean production has never been more competitive than it is today. For many years, a small (100 to 200 acre) grain farm was able to feed the entire family, but that is not the case anymore. In 2005, we spent close to $275 to produce 1 acre of soybean. That means 45 bushels are needed to break even with an average price of $6 per bushel.

The success of a farming operation today is no longer dependent solely on maximum productivity.

Production costs and management can have a big impact, too. Family farms are rare and most farms today that are run by a full-time farmer are more like large commercial farms. Although we have 88,600 farms in Iowa, and rank 3rd in the United States, it is estimated that less than 3,800 farmers farm half the state of Iowa. Many of these farmers take advantage of the economy of scale and can spread out their fixed costs. However, the average Iowa farmer, who typically farmed 355 acres in 2006, does not have that advantage.

Information on production costs in Iowa can be found in the following pdf publications from Iowa State University Extension:

2006 Iowa Farm Costs and Returns-This publication provides information on the general idea of costs and return to well-managed, full-time Iowa farms during 2006. The values that it presents are averages of those farms included in the survey.

2006 Iowa Land Value Survey-The average value of an acre of farmland in Iowa increased $290 to an all-time high of $3,204 in 2006. This publication looks at the long-term increases in Iowa farmland and separates it out by county and district.

2007 Estimated Costs of Crop Production in Iowa-Since the cost of production in Iowa changes so much each year, this publication summarizes all of the input costs and acts as a worksheet for the many different rotations in Iowa.