How do your production costs look for the year ahead? Iowa State University just released its 2015 crop-production estimates, and I hope your figures look better than these guidelines. That won’t be easy, I’m afraid, but then actual costs can vary greatly.

Based on $273/acre rent, they’re talking $4.23 per bushel to produce corn and $10.96 soybeans. Wow!

You save 2¢/bushel by planting non-traited soybeans, and another 2-8¢ by strip-tilling instead of conventional tilling.

2015 crop production budgets

*Herbicide-resistant soybeans

These figures reflect rent of $273/acre, $13/hr. labor, 180-bu. corn yields and 50-bu. soybean yields. Conventional tillage includes tandem disk, field cultivation, plant and spray.

Check out the full details from ISU (pdf).