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Successful farmers have good habits in common

Financially successful farmers have many of the same habits in common.  University of Illinois ag economist Nick Paulson studied the habits of farmers who consistently meet with financial success in good and not-so-good times.  He tells Brownfield it tends to be the same farms.

“It wasn’t ‘these farms do well when returns and prices are high, versus a different group of farms that do well when prices and returns are low,’ that performance was persistent over both time periods,” Paulson told Brownfield Ag News.

The farmers with the consistently best bottom lines, according to Paulson, are those who control costs, especially those who control machinery depreciation and repairs.

“They choose a machinery compliment that fits their operation,” said Paulson, “so they’re kind of maximizing the use of that machinery over the acreage that they have and then they’re doing their own repairs or keeping that repair cost down, maintaining their equipment.”

Paulson says the more successful farms make more money through higher yields and better marketing, but that difference is not dramatic.  The more pronounced difference is among farmers who improve their bottom line by saving money on land rent.