Survey results of custom farm work rates for early season operations in North Dakota are available at http://tinyurl.com/customrate.

The survey is conducted every three years by the North Dakota office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service in cooperation with the North Dakota State University Extension Service and North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station.

Early season operations include rates for land tillage, planting, fertilizer and pesticide application, haying operations and livestock-related custom work.

The survey summarizes approximately 2,700 reports from aerial operators, farmers, ranchers and other custom operators. The rates in the report include charges for the equipment, power, fuel and operator.

“The number of reports, range in rates, most frequent rate reported and the average rate are shown for each field operation,” says Dwight Aakre, North Dakota State University Extension Service farm management specialist. “In addition, the average rate from the previous survey in 2010, as well as the percentage of change from 2010, also is reported. Data is provided by region of the state for most operations, as well.”

The survey of late-season operations will be conducted in September and October. Operations to be included in the late-season survey are harvesting, grain drying, crop and hay hauling, and other miscellaneous operations. This information will be available in December.

NDSU Agriculture Communication - Sept. 4, 2013