Farmers say cost management and crop diversification are key tools in a tight-margin year

Farmers across the U.S. continue to navigate narrow margins and tight budgets.

Indiana farmer Tim Gauck says it’s even more important for farmers today, to know their numbers.  “Knowing your cost of production, where your break-even point is, is so important,” he says. “We’d all like to have the highest price or the best machinery or the most land, but the important thing is making a living, and you do that by knowing what your costs are.”

AUDIO: Tim Gauck, Indiana farmer

Stephen Butz, a farmer from Kankakee, Illinois tells Brownfield diversification has been one way they have addressed profitability. “We have grown non-GMO soybeans for quite a few years,” he says. “It’s actually going to be the first year, probably seven or eight years we haven’t done that. So obviously, you know, you’re still based off a soybean price, but able to get that premium for non-GMO soybeans.”  Butz says they’re also going to add non-GMO white corn to their rotation to add value to their operation.

AUDIO: Stephen Butz, Illinois farmer

Brownfield interviewed Gauck and Butz at the 30^th Commodity Classic in San Antonio, Texas.