Poor math skills!

[Animal]

If high end corn seed is $400 a bag, and fuel is $2.75 a gallon, corn is around $3.50 a bushel, and I do not have a clue how much fertilizer or round up costs plus rent on ground......the arithmetic does not make sense to me on how you can make money growing corn. What am I missing?

 

[Anonymous-0]

you need one of those magic pencils! They must sell them around here somewhere as several people in this area must own one!

 

[Brendon-KS]

Not sure I can answer the question, but here's a few more numbers. A 200 bu/acre yield will gross $700/acre. (They are pushing 300 bu/acre in real corn country.) A bag will plant around 2.5 acres so seed is $160/acre. Figure fertilizer at around $150/acre to get these kinds of yields. Roundup is about $10 times three applications for $30/acre herbicide costs. If my numbers are anywhere near in the ballpark, this leaves half the gross for tillage (if any), planting, harvesting, hauling, drying, storage, depreciation on equipment, land payments, etc, etc. How it works out I don't know but it must somehow. Otherwise there wouldn't be thousands of combines built and sold in the US each year.

 

[usetob]

That's why I always had to diversify to make it, sometimes you hit on a few crops and loose on others
you just hope and pray for the best.
I'm not great on math but can spell retire!
Ron

 

[kyhayman]

Gotta have volume, lol.

I cant do it, well I can, but it isnt easy. For that combination I'd have to drop 400 an acre in input costs to sell 390 in corn, 130 at 3.00. It would take at least the 50 cents to pay for combining and hauling. Thats why I raise hay and cows. What corn I raise, I raise for the rotation or grazing. What I dont graze I sell in the field for silage, pre negotiated price of 25 a ton and they chop.

 

[IaGary]

Better find a new seed supplier. I bought mine at $160 a bag, and I will average (in a normal year)175 to 200 bu per acre.It is triple stack corn.

Locked my fuel at $2.30 a gallon.

Fert is bought for $130 an acre.

$40 for herbicides.

I'll have $500 an acre in it with land rent.

Some of the corn is locked in at $4.25 for Oct. delievery. Some for $3.75.

Got to lock in a profit when you can not wait for top dollar or till it is to late.

Gary

 

[Anonymous-0]

I own a small farm down the road from the home place. I've rented it out for the past 3 years. The thought passed through my mind to put a crop out myself this year. Did the math. Based on cash rent I'm getting now, with estimated input cost, estimated equipment cost (own some already, would need to by more) ,ect, then toss in current corn prices, I'd have to raise 155 to 160 bu per acre corn to break even over 3 years. I'm not in to breaking even after all that work, investment and risk. Add all that to the fact that in normal conditions, this farm most likely wouldn't produce 160 bu corn every year, the numbers just don't add up.

We just recently signed on the tennent for another 3 years. Let him worry about numbers that don't add up.

 

[stan jefferies]

Ive never seen 400 a bag corn, plus getting 160+ bushels isnt impossible anymore and hasnt anyone heard of a subsidy, cyclical or deficient?

 

[sammydwm]

2.5 acres so seed is $160/acre

good lord what kind of seed are you planting? That's about twice what I'm seeing.

 

[Brendon-KS]

Just going off of the $400/bag cost provided at the
start of this thread.

 

[Animal]

Pioneer triple stack here is $400, I do not know how much you have to buy to get the fifty dollar break.

 

[stan jefferies]

triple stack and smartstax are all a joke and a sham. You still should use soil applied insecticide with rootworm corn and youre at Monsanto's mercy, screw them and smartstax, wanna make money growing corn, dont buy 400 dollar a bag garbage, How much money per bag is for advertising? Does anyone see a ROI on Monsanto or Dows ad's? Soil+Nutrients+Seed+Weather grows corn, crooks control prices and somewhere in between you make your best deal and pray, Monsanto will probably try to trademark rain soon enough.

 

[JMS/.MN]

What triple stack do you get for $160 per bag?

 

[IaGary]

That $160 is an average price on 144 bags. About a third of them are triple stack. The triple stack runs about $230 with the discounts. I use LG, Nutech, Mycogen and Crows.

So I should have said, some of that seed is triple stack.

Gary

 

[Anonymous-0]

My best corn in 2009 was my refuge which was 5611 producers which is an older number. In o8 I bought it for $79.00 a bag in 2009 they put on poncho 250 and it was $122.00. Other neighbors also said their refuge was their best. We had virtually no corn borers this year but as a precaution I will plant some bt corn. My generic dual didn't work very well but Impact and a half pound of atrazine post emerge made my corn spotless. Not a big fan of rr corn and less on helping out monsanto. With seed cost at $50-60/acre a $20/acre herbicide program and $80/100 fert. cost I figure maybe I can make a little money on corn.

 

[ford farmer]

try looking at non GMO Seed costs i found some prices at 80$ an acre and you have no roundup or spraying of any kind to buy sure your fuel goes up. ill tell you this fall if theres a big enough savings

 

[Erik Ks farmer]

These numbers don't quite look right. Round here (NE KS) I bought triple stack Pioneer for $235 a bag and Golden Harvest for $215. Then add in fert at 135 actual N and 40 lbs P. And chem preemerge harness and post glystar. I figure if I make 125 bushel corn at $3 I'm still makin money after inputs and machinery. Not much but, I figure to make better corn than that, and maybe better prices.