Rototilling Rates?

[lkell93]

Hi All,

A neighbor of mine leases his 2 acres of field put to various ethnic refugee farmers (who sell at local farmers markets).

His old tenants had an old Allis WD and rototiller...but have since moved away.

The neighbor asked me of id be interested in rototilling the 2 acres for the new tenant, and that they'd pay me for it.

Neither my neighbor or I know the going rate for such service. Any suggestions on what to charge?

I've got a 48" rototiller so it'll take me a while

 

[tom upton]

I dont know what to charge. If it was me I would do it and just say dont worry about paying me cash just give me some vegatables as you see fit?
I guess it depends on the soil type, but I have found rototilling our garden is a big mistake in the spring of the year. Just seems to form a hard layer on top and stuff doesnt poke thru it very well. Running thru it with a cultivator a couple times does a much better job. And it will be much faster! We have about a 1 acre garden and it takes about 10 minutes in the spring to get it ready to plant. Here is a video clip of my "garden tractor" Last year we got lazy and only planted a small chunk and left it so we could still summer fallow around the outside.

 

[JIM MN]

In our area, for the machine, fuel, and operator, $60.00 per hour. Plus or minus. But I would agree with tom, roto till in the fall. Come spring-- spring tooth and a drag and you are ready to plant?

 

[paul]

Yea, 2 acres is big enough to get some cash, fuel and wear on the tiller needs to be covered.

$60 an hour would be quite charitable to the business, but could cover your costs. Tillers take some fuel and wear and tear, that needs to be covered and this isn’t a one time deal where you are helping a neighbor out….

As I understand it a neighbor is asking you to till land that he rents out to various individuals, so this doesn’t need to be charity, and you couldn’t expect to get goods from the folk growing veggies because they are already paying rent to the neighbor.

 

[Scott 730]

If there are rocks involved I would politely decline to take my tiller there.

 

[E.B. Haymakin']

Hi All,

A neighbor of mine leases his 2 acres of field put to various ethnic refugee farmers (who sell at local farmers markets).

His old tenants had an old Allis WD and rototiller...but have since moved away.

The neighbor asked me of id be interested in rototilling the 2 acres for the new tenant, and that they'd pay me for it.

Neither my neighbor or I know the going rate for such service. Any suggestions on what to charge?

I've got a 48" rototiller so it'll take me a while

Iowa custom rate survey doesn't list rototilling rates per acre that I saw, but generally tillage seems to be around $20 an acre. Keep in mind though the operations that they are gleaning current charges from are doing hundreds of not thousands of acres to cash flow those rates. Look up Iowa Custom Rate Survey 2024. Look at the landscaping rates. You need a return on the cost of your equipment-unless your willing to eat that, but definitely need compensation for your time, fuel, maintenance and repairs. I would only use a tiller behind some other implement for primary tillage, unless they are already utilizing another equipment provider to break and prepare ground. $60 an hour would be a minimum.