DTN Ag Business Benchmark

Land Costs Hamper U.S. Competitiveness

Elizabeth Williams
By  Elizabeth Williams , DTN Special Correspondent
Ukraine (UA) farmers scored the highest profit margin corn in 2011, followed by U.S., Argentina (AR) and Brazil (BR), based on data from the Thuenen Institute. For soybeans, the benchmark farm in Brazil had a larger profit than the U.S. if you include land costs. Argentina farmers got clipped by markets offering lower farm gate prices. (Farms are designated by country, acreage and location: US700IA stands for the U.S. benchmark farm of 700 acres in Iowa.)
Cheap land costs in Brazil and Ukraine negate some export advantages of U.S. corn and soybean production.

Subscriber-Only Content

To read the Full Story, upgrade your account to a FREE trial of MyDTN today.

  • Exclusive access to comprehensive, customized insight anytime, anywhere
  • If you're a Community user, all of your settings will transfer into your trial
Start your free MyDTN demo
P[L2] D[728x90] M[320x50] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]
P[R1] D[300x250] M[300x250] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]
P[R2] D[300x250] M[320x50] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]
DIM[1x3] LBL[] SEL[] IDX[] TMPL[standalone] T[]
P[R3] D[300x250] M[0x0] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]

Elizabeth Williams