Tillage farmers are facing tough decisions as they decide what areas of winter crops to plant, with cropping costs increasing substantially on 2021.

At last week’s Teagasc Crops Forum, Ciarán Collins stated that costs were estimated to be up 62% on a farm with winter crops when compared to 2021 and 2023.

On a spring cropping farm, costs are estimated to be up by 48%. However, he noted that these figures are changing regularly as costs are so volatile.

To put this into perspective, that’s a rise in costs from €183,240 in 2021 to €297,450 in 2023 on a 150ha winter cropping rotation.

“There’s big implications in the amount of money that we invest in the business and what we’re going to need to grow our crops,” Collins said.

The figures were based on five-year average yields and cost increases of 10% on chemicals, €130/t on seed, 5% on machinery and CAN+S at a price €860/t.

He noted that CAN had already increased in price from the time the presentation was made.

The tillage specialist stated that at those costs, an average breakeven green cereal price of €215/t for cereals would be needed at average yields.

He placed the cost of producing 1t of spring beans at €206/t, spring barley at €216/t and winter wheat at €222/t at average yields.