Impact of Fuel Prices on Per-Acre Costs
December 2005
Jim Jacobs,
With the recent increase in
fuel prices, operating costs for farm and ranch businesses and custom operators
are on the rise. The cost of operating vehicles and tractors along with
fertilizer prices are all impacted by fuel prices. When evaluating the cost of
field operations, operators must consider the change in fuel prices. For
example, the University of Wyoming publication, B-1142, “Custom Rates for
Wyoming Farm and Ranch Operations 2000-2002” is based on data collected when
the three-year average price was about $1.39 and $1.45/gallon for gasoline and
diesel, respectively. The average price for gasoline in August 2005 was $2.50
per gallon which means the price of gasoline is now approximately $1.11 per
gallon higher compared to the 2000-2002 period.
The impact of increased fuel
prices on per-acre costs can be estimated for each individual field operation
using the following information:
§
Fuel use in
gallons per hour (gals/hr)
§
Accomplishment
rate stated in hours per acre (hrs/ac)
§
Increased price
of fuel ($/gal)
Spreadsheets have been
developed to assist these businesses in calculating the impact of the increase
in fuel price on mileage and per-acre costs.
Individuals will have to input the information requested. Please note
operators will have to input a Load factor and the PTO-HP of the power unit to
get an estimate of fuel use in gals/hr. The typical Load factors range from 0.6
to 0.7, with the lighter operations (planting, baling, etc.) having a Load
factor of about 0.6 and tillage operations (plowing, disking, etc.) having a
Load factor of about 0.7. To estimate the accomplishment rate (hours per acre),
operators have to input speed in mph, implement width in Feet, and field
efficiency for each operation (%/100). Most field efficiencies range from 65
percent to 80 percent, with tillage operations having the higher efficiencies
and planting and spraying having the lower efficiencies.
The spreadsheets are also
on-line at the Agricultural Experiment Station web-site at www.uwyo.edu/uwexpstn/links.asp.
Open one of these:
|
Excel file for figuring – acre
costs |
|
Excel file for Tractor fuel costs - gasoline |
|
Excel file for Tractor fuel costs - diesel |
|
Excel file for figuring - mileage
costs |
3/06