| |  Economics and Competitiveness
Each year, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry makes available the Cropping Alternative (Crop Planning Guide) to help crop producers estimate the costs of producing various crops. This guide uses most current production information and estimates of expected market values and costs.
However, actual costs and yields on each farm will differ due to the selection of crop protection products and other inputs used, the age, amount and type of equipment, agronomic practices, soil class, weather conditions, and other factors. Producers will use their own risk assessment and cost-benefit calculations in production decisions, which will determine the actual costs of production.
The Economics Section has developed the Crop Budget Calculator to help crop producers to do quick budgeting to estimate the cash cost of producing field crops on their farm. Farm managers can use the Crop Budget Calculator to input their own costs in their calculations for decision making. Only expected yield, expected market price and estimated costs need to be entered. The tool will automatically calculate value of production, capital costs, marginal returns, and break-even yields and prices. The calculator can handle up to 5 different crops or crop scenarios.
Key Features and Analysis:
- cost of production
- cash production costs per acre on an annual basis (costs per acre)
- gross revenue estimates
- break-even prices and yield
Alberta Agriculture and Forestry's Crop Budget Calculator tool is available to customize your own crop budgets.
Please click the link to launch the calculator. You will be prompted to "Run" or "Save" the file. Save the file either to your desktop for easy access, or to a location on your computer where you store management tools. Try a few different scenarios to become comfortable with the program. Then use it to help make cropping decisions on your farm. Generally, crop pricing information changes continuously, thus producers should adjust those figures accordingly to reflect their own expectations.
Questions?
Please call the Ag-Info Centre at 310-FARM (310-3276)
For more information about the content of this document, contact Manglai at 780-422-4056. |
|