Production Inputs

The per-unit costs of agricultural production inputs such as feed, fertilizers, crop chemicals, and seed also vary widely due to production systems. For instance, a corn farmer might have nitrogen fertilizer costs of $50 per acre while a soybean farmer down the road might have no nitrogen fertilizer costs due to a "legume" ability to fix nitrogen. Crop chemicals such as herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides are applied on an "as-needed" basis and applications vary widely from farm-to-farm, and from crop-to-crop. Seed costs tend to vary somewhat less. For instance, farmers in Indiana paid an average of over $90 per bag of seed corn and about $21 per bushel of soybeans in 2001. The bag of seed corn would plant about 2 ½ acres, while the bushel of soybeans would plant about an acre.

In addition to land, machinery, fertilizer, crop chemicals, and seed, farmers face costs for buildings, grain handling facilities, hired labor, fuel for vehicles, heating, and conditioning crops, livestock, feed and veterinary care for the livestock, taxes, crop insurance, property insurance, and the list goes on. All of the expenses add to the challenge of remaining profitable and economically viable for the long term.

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This page is sponsored by EPA's Ag Center.

Production Inputs

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