The 2022 crop enterprise budgets from the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture are now available online at http://bit.ly/2022-crop-budgets.
The budgets, a set of planning tools popular with farmers, consultants and other agriculture industry professionals, help producers estimate inputs costs and potential profits for row crops, field crops and other commodities. They are developed and refined by agricultural economists with the Division of Agriculture.
The interactive budgets allow growers to plan for crops under multiple irrigation scenarios, including use of surface irrigation, center pivot irrigation and no irrigation. The current roster of budgeted crops ranges from corn and cotton to soybeans and wheat, rice, peanuts, and grain.
Bobby Coats, retired extension economist for the Division of Agriculture, said the budgets are an essential tool in farmers’ decision-making process.
“There are three interactive decision aid spreadsheets, developed by Breana Watkins, that are simply excellent and compliment the individual enterprise budgets,” Coats said.
“I’ve focused on the producers’ decision-making process, but lenders, agricultural business, marketers and others use these budgets and decision aids,” he said. Coats now works for the Arkansas Department of Agriculture.
Interactive budgets premiered on the Division of Agriculture website in 2010 and have been repeatedly revised to reflect changes in research findings, verification programs, the federal Farm Bill and more.
The budgets also help users determine the amount of insurance coverage he or she may need to accommodate risk management objectives. The budgets are preloaded with standard expenses including seed, fertilizer, pesticide and fuel. As of 2015, the budgets can also be used to determine capitalization rates for estimating land values.
