Calculate the minimum market price your crop must achieve to cover all production costs at your expected yield. This tool helps you make marketing decisions, evaluate forward contracts, and understand your price risk exposure.
Enter your total cost per acre, expected yield, government payments, current market price, and field area. The calculator determines the break-even price per bushel and whether the current market price delivers a profit or loss.
Break-Even Price ($/bu) = (Total Cost/acre − Government Payments/acre) ÷ Expected Yield (bu/acre)
The break-even price is the price at which total revenue equals total cost. Selling above this price generates a profit; selling below results in a loss.
Net Cost per Acre = Total Cost − Government Payments
Price Margin = Current Price − Break-Even Price
Expected Revenue = Current Price × Expected Yield × Area
A corn farm with $650/acre total cost, $50/acre government payments, and 180 bu/acre expected yield: Net cost = 650 − 50 = $600/acre. Break-even price = 600 ÷ 180 = $3.33/bu.
If the current market price is $4.20/bu: Margin = 4.20 − 3.33 = +$0.87/bu (26.1%). On 100 acres: Revenue = 4.20 × 180 × 100 = $75,600. Profit = 75,600 − 65,000 + 5,000 = $15,600.
1. Enter your complete cost of production per acre. 2. Enter your realistic expected yield based on farm history and current conditions. 3. Add government payments per acre. 4. Enter the current market price or a price you are considering for forward contracting. 5. Input field area. Click Calculate to see the break-even price and your financial position.
Break-even price analysis is essential for grain marketing decisions. It tells you the floor price below which you lose money, helping you decide when to sell, whether to accept a forward contract offer, and how much price risk you can tolerate. Many farmers use break-even price as the trigger for making sales — once the market exceeds break-even by a comfortable margin, locking in a profit becomes attractive.
Common mistakes: Using an inflated expected yield that makes the break-even price artificially low — if yield falls short, the actual break-even price rises. Omitting opportunity costs like land rent and family labor. Comparing break-even price to a futures price without accounting for basis (the difference between local cash price and futures). Forgetting that storage and marketing costs add to the effective break-even.
✓ Expert Reviewed: This calculator and its content have been reviewed by agricultural experts. Formulas are based on standard extension service recommendations.