Crop Guides

A cool-season cereal grown widely across temperate regions, usually at field scale with mechanised planting and harvest. Winter and spring types suit different climates and calendars.

Prefers moderate temperatures and well-drained soils. Sensitive to heat and moisture stress during grain filling, which is often the period that determines the size of the harvest.

Seed, fertilizer with a substantial nitrogen share, crop protection, machinery and fuel across several passes, and harvest or contractor charges.

Variety choice, sowing date and rate, nitrogen timing, rainfall or irrigation at critical stages, and disease control in the upper leaves.

Grain price at the time of sale, protein and quality grading, moisture at delivery, and whether the crop meets a milling specification or is sold as feed.

Nitrogen is usually one of the largest single inputs, so fertilizer price movements alone can reshape the margin. Machinery cost per unit of land falls as the block gets larger.

Sits mainly in the gap between grain price and fertilizer cost. Modest yields at a good price can outperform strong yields grown expensively.

Drought or heat during grain fill, lodging in wet or heavily fertilised crops, fungal disease pressure, and price falls between planting and sale.

Enter the yield you expect for your own variety and conditions rather than a district figure, and check whether your price assumes a milling grade you may not reach.

A warm-season cereal commonly grown in flooded paddies, though upland and direct-seeded systems exist. Water management is central to how the crop is grown and costed.

Warm temperatures and reliable water. Puddled, level fields hold water evenly; poor levelling wastes both water and fertilizer.

Seed or seedlings, land preparation, irrigation and pumping, fertilizer, crop protection, and labour for transplanting, weeding and harvest.

Variety and duration, water depth and timing, nutrient management, weed competition early on, and pest pressure through the season.

Paddy price, milling recovery and broken-grain percentage, moisture at sale, and any premium for a specific variety or aroma.

Water and labour usually dominate. Where irrigation is pumped rather than gravity-fed, fuel or electricity can become one of the largest line items.

Depends heavily on the cost of water and labour in your area, which is why the same yield can be profitable in one district and marginal in another.

Water shortage or unreliable supply, flooding and storm damage, pest outbreaks, and losses during drying and storage.

Cost irrigation properly, including pumping fuel and any water charges, and decide whether you are pricing paddy or milled rice before entering a selling price.

Also called maize. A warm-season cereal grown for grain, silage, feed and processing, with high nutrient demand relative to many other cereals.

Warm soils at planting and adequate moisture through flowering. Water stress around pollination has a disproportionate effect on the final harvest.

Seed, fertilizer with a large nitrogen component, crop protection, machinery and fuel, and drying or storage after harvest.

Hybrid choice, plant population, nitrogen supply and timing, moisture at flowering, and weed control in the early weeks.

Grain price, moisture content at sale, and whether the crop is sold as grain, silage or into a specific processing channel.

Seed and nitrogen together often make up the bulk of variable cost. Drying can be a significant extra charge when harvest moisture is high.

The ratio between grain price and nitrogen price matters more than either alone, and it is worth recalculating whenever fertilizer prices move sharply.

Drought at pollination, storm or wind damage to standing crops, pest and disease pressure, and price weakness at harvest when supply peaks.

Include drying and storage under other costs if they apply, and be careful not to mix a silage yield with a grain price.

A legume grown for oil and protein. It fixes a large share of its own nitrogen, which gives it a noticeably different cost structure from cereals.

Warm season with adequate moisture during pod fill. Suits well-drained soils, and is commonly used in rotation with cereals.

Seed and any inoculant, weed control, crop protection, machinery and fuel, with a comparatively small nitrogen fertilizer requirement.

Variety and maturity group, planting date, moisture during pod fill, weed competition, and disease or pest pressure.

Oilseed price, oil and protein demand, moisture and quality at delivery, and access to a crushing or export outlet.

Weed control is often the largest variable cost, and herbicide-resistant weeds can raise it sharply. Lower nitrogen need is a real advantage when fertilizer prices are high.

Frequently compared directly against a cereal on the same land, which is exactly the comparison profit per acre or hectare is built for.

Dry conditions during pod fill, resistant weed populations, disease in wet seasons, and swings in oilseed markets.

When comparing against a cereal, run both crops with the same land area and compare profit per unit of land and ROI rather than total profit.

A long-season fibre crop. It occupies land for an extended period and typically requires close management through flowering and boll development.

Warm climates with a long frost-free season. Needs consistent moisture during boll fill, then dry weather approaching harvest.

Seed, fertilizer, crop protection across many applications, irrigation where used, and picking, transport and ginning.

Variety, plant population, water supply during boll fill, insect pressure, and how the crop is managed through the flowering period.

Lint price, fibre length, strength and grade, ginning turnout, and the value of cottonseed as a by-product.

Crop protection is usually a larger share of cost than in most field crops, and harvest handling adds charges that arrive after the field work is done.

Quality grading can move the price received substantially, so a good yield of poorly graded lint may earn less than a smaller, better crop.

Insect outbreaks and resistance, rain or storms at harvest damaging open bolls, water shortage, and volatile fibre markets.

Include picking, transport and ginning under other costs, and price the crop on the basis you actually sell, whether that is seed cotton or lint.

A long-duration crop that occupies land for many months and then regrows as ratoon crops from the same planting, usually for several cycles.

Warm climates with a long growing period and substantial water. Deep soils that hold moisture generally suit it best.

Planting material and establishment, fertilizer, irrigation over a long season, weed control, and cutting, loading and haulage at harvest.

Variety, water supply through the season, nutrition, ratoon number, and how well the crop is managed after each harvest.

Cane price and how it is set, sugar content or recovery, transport distance to the processing point, and harvest timing.

Establishment is expensive but spreads across several ratoon harvests. Cane is bulky and heavy, so haulage cost rises quickly with distance.

Best judged across the full plant-plus-ratoon cycle rather than a single year, since the first crop carries the establishment cost alone.

Water shortage over a long season, declining ratoon performance, harvest and transport delays, and changes in cane pricing arrangements.

If you are costing a ratoon year, do not include the full planting cost again. Enter only what that particular cycle actually costs you, and include haulage.

A tuber crop grown for fresh market, processing or seed. Seed cost per unit of land is high compared with most field crops.

Cooler conditions and loose, well-drained soil that lets tubers develop cleanly. Consistent moisture matters during tuber bulking.

Seed tubers, fertilizer, crop protection, irrigation, specialised machinery for planting and lifting, plus grading and storage.

Variety, seed quality and spacing, soil condition, water during bulking, and control of blight and other diseases.

Price by market channel, tuber size grading, skin finish and defects, dry matter for processing, and when in the season you sell.

Seed alone can be one of the largest costs of the whole crop. Storage adds cost and carries loss risk, but may allow a better selling window.

Depends as much on what proportion of the crop meets specification as on the total tonnes lifted, since out-of-grade material earns much less.

Disease outbreaks, wet conditions at lifting, storage losses and sprouting, and sharp price swings between seasons.

Base your yield on saleable tonnes rather than everything lifted, and include storage and grading under other costs.

A high-value vegetable grown in open fields or protected structures, for fresh market or processing. Labour requirements are high and continuous.

Warm conditions without extreme heat during flowering, well-drained soil, and steady moisture. Protected growing extends the season but raises fixed costs.

Seed or seedlings, staking and trellising, fertilizer, crop protection, irrigation, and heavy labour for training, picking and packing.

Variety, spacing, training method, nutrition, irrigation consistency, and disease and pest control through a long picking period.

Market price on the days you actually sell, fruit size and appearance, firmness and shelf life, and whether you supply fresh or processing markets.

Labour is typically the single largest cost. Perishability means handling, cooling and transport are not optional extras but part of the core budget.

Timing can matter as much as yield. Prices move sharply within a season, so a smaller crop hitting a strong window can beat a larger one arriving in a glut.

Disease in humid conditions, heat affecting fruit set, post-harvest losses, and price collapse when many growers harvest at once.

Use marketable yield after grading losses, cost your own labour honestly even if unpaid, and try a lower price scenario to test how much room you have.

A cool-season cereal often grown where seasons are shorter or drier than wheat prefers. It serves two distinct markets, malting and feed.

Moderate temperatures and generally tolerant of drier conditions than several other cereals. Prefers well-drained soils.

Seed, fertilizer, crop protection, and machinery and fuel. Input levels are often lower than for wheat in the same rotation.

Variety and type, sowing date, nutrition, moisture through grain fill, and disease control.

Whether the grain meets malting specification, which usually carries a premium over feed, plus moisture, screenings and general quality at delivery.

Nitrogen management is a balancing act: enough for yield, but not so much that grain protein rises above a malting specification.

Often turns on whether the crop makes malting grade. Planning on a malting price and selling into feed is a common way an estimate goes wrong.

Missing malting specification, drought during grain fill, lodging, and disease pressure in wetter seasons.

Run the calculation twice, once at a malting price and once at feed, and see whether the crop still works if it only makes feed.

Pulses, oilseeds, fodder, fruit, and specialty crops all follow the same economics. If you can estimate a yield and a price, the calculator will work.

Too varied to generalise. Local knowledge and extension material for your own area will always beat a general guide on this point.

The same seven the calculator uses: seed, fertilizer, labour, irrigation, machinery and fuel, crop protection, and everything else.

Variety, establishment, nutrition, water, and pest and disease pressure. The weighting differs by crop, but the list rarely does.

Price at your point of sale, quality and grading, and how much of what you grow actually reaches a paying market.

For perennials and long-season crops, decide whether you are costing an establishment year or a production year. Mixing the two produces a misleading result.

Land occupation matters. A crop earning less per season but freeing the field sooner can be worth more across a full year than a higher-value one that does not.

Thin markets for specialty crops, limited buyers, perishability, and less established agronomic guidance to fall back on.

Select “Other” for the crop, keep your yield unit and price unit matched, and use the notes field of your own records to remember what assumptions you used.