Two decision-making tools created by Nebraska Extension for agricultural producers across the state have been updated for the new year.

The 2020 Nebraska crop budgets and representative cow-calf budgets now are available to provide producers with cost-of-production estimates.

Both sets of budgets are available as PDFs and Excel files, which feature tools that allow users to enter information into worksheets to calculate estimated production costs.

"Both the crop and livestock budget files are made available online so producers can download, then modify, production and expense figures to more closely match their various enterprises," said Glennis McClure, Nebraska Extension educator in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Department of Agricultural Economics. "Understanding enterprise cost of production in agriculture is important in product mix decision-making, pricing, marketing and financial analysis."

The crop budgets include 82 production budgets for 15 crops produced in Nebraska, along with cost data for power, machinery and labor. They were compiled by a team led by Robert Klein, an Extension crops specialist, and McClure, utilizing a template created by Roger Wilson, a retired Extension farm and ranch management analyst.

There are five cow-calf budgets that offer representative herd data for different regions of the state. Background stories are included to assist producers with information relevant to each budget, which may guide producers in determining their own costs.

McClure led the cow-calf budget effort, which was compiled from information gathered from producer panels that have met as part of the university’s multidisciplinary Beef Systems Initiative.

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