Calculating Break-Even Costs for Row Crop Producers and Market Reports

At Row Crop Commodity Marketing Training, held in mid-February we received assistance from Extension Agricultural Economists on calculating break-even costs for certain row crops. Calculating your break-even cost can be the critical first step to developing your marketing plan. By knowing your costs of production and the yields and commodity prices needed to break-even or "stay out of the red" you can then set price goals. This will help you know when to move on an opportunity to sell when the price is sufficient to cover your costs. One mistake producers make is to watch the price go up, up, up and never pull the trigger. As it goes up you may decide to sell a percentage of your crop here and there when you know it is profitable. It may not be the most profitable but it can help you to avoid a loss if and when prices drop.

To access the Microsoft Excel spreadsheets used go to the following website:
http://agfacts.tamu.edu/~lfalcone/newweb/cropbudgets.htm

To access the spreadsheet we developed specifically for dryland corn in Navarro County go to:
http://navarro-co.tamu.edu/pubcat.cfm?COUNTY=Navarro&CatID=2021 and click on "Corn Break Even Spreadsheet"

Also, for the latest Market Outlook Reports from Texas AgriLife Extension Service Agriculture Economists go to: http://agecoext.tamu.edu/resources/market-outlook.html