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Rising and Changing Costs of Production Agriculture

Brian Briggeman and, Chuck Mickelsen (August, 2013)

Summary

Costs of production agriculture have surged. Since 2002, total costs of producing an acre of corn have risen over 50 percent. While these costs have eclipsed the highs of the 1970s, breaking down total costs into operating and overhead costs does highlight some differences between today and the past. These differences are driven largely by improvements in technology as well as some variation in land rental costs. The objective of this fact sheet is to examine these cost differences, the impact rising costs have had on agricultural profitability and peer into the future evolution of the costs of production agriculture.