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Per Unit Costs to Own and Operate Farm Machinery

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2005

Aaron J. Beaton
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS
Kevin C. Dhuyvetter
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS
Terry L. Kastens
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS
Jeffery R. Williams
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS

Abstract

With increasingly thin margins and new technologies, it is important that farm managers know their cost of field operations on a per unit basis (e.g., acre, ton, bale). Accurate per unit costs give confidence when constructing enterprise budgets and evaluating new technologies, such as no-till. Custom rates are often used as a proxy for per unit costs; however, this research, using entropy and jackknife estimation procedures, found that custom rates understate total ownership and operating costs by approximately 25% for an average Kansas farm. Estimates from these models are then used to benchmark actual costs against expected cost.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 2005

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