The key input cost reductions farmers are targeting ahead of new season

Farmers are looking for ways to cut costs this year but with high yields last year in many areas they will be forced to replace nutrients. Picture by Gregor Heard. Faced with ever-increasing costs of production and depressed grain prices, farmers across the country are looking at ways to make savings as they come up with their pre-planting budgets. All articles from our website & app The digital version of This Week's Paper Our entire agricultural news network "The costs of growing a crop are significant and when you've had a couple of bad years, such as we have in our part of the world, then you really have to watch every dollar," said farmer Andy Barr, who crops in South Australia's lower mid north at Pinery. "We'll certainly be going through the costs line by line and trying to identify some savings." Professor Barr said in his medium rainfall zone region the variable cost of production for wheat crops was generally around $600 a hectare. "This can range from $550/ha to $650/ha ...