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

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. "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 depending on the system but it shows that you need to grow a reasonable volume of crop before you're in the black let alone making a sustainable profit." He said last year this had equated to a cost per tonne of $220/t, and that cost rose even higher so for the severe drought ...