▶ Fall 2025 Financial Assistance for Producers
Silva Gaku provides an overview of financial assistance updates for agricultural producers following the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill.
Economics, Budgets & Financial
Economics and Budgets Tools
The Custom Rate Guide is a summary from a mail survey which collected rates paid by Wisconsin farmers who hired custom work, custom operators and farmers who performed custom work, and machinery dealers who rented out equipment for field operations including manure services, tillage, planting, fertilizer & chemical application, harvest operations, and machinery rental.
The UW Crop Enterprise Budget Tool can be used to help estimate the cost of production for your crops. A printable version of this resource is also available.
For farmers who practice cover cropping or reduced tillage, use the Crop Budget Analyzer to capture a snapshot of the immediate financial expenses and income that a farm may experience in using practices such as cover cropping and reduced tillage, particularly in grain crop systems.
Articles
▶ Fall 2025 Ag Policy Update
Dr. Paul Mitchell provides a comprehensive update on agricultural policy and farm income trends for fall 2025.
▶ Fall 2025 Corn and Soybean Market Outlook
Dr. Brenda Boetel presents the fall 2025 market outlook for corn and soybeans, offering insights into harvest progress, yield expectations, export trends, and price forecasts.
▶ AI in Agriculture
Dr. John Shutske explores the evolving role of artificial intelligence in agriculture, with a focus on generative AI and large language models (LLMs).
▶ April 2025 Farm Economy Update
Paul Mitchell provides a comprehensive overview of the state of the farm economy in spring 2025, focusing on net farm income, crop margins, and farm financial information.
Farming on a Tight Budget: Balancing Innovation and Sustainability
Tight budgets are becoming the norm due to a combination of volatile commodity prices, rising input costs, labor shortages, and weather-related impacts. Amid these pressures, the push to innovate and adopt sustainable practices has not slowed—in fact, it is getting stronger.
Wisconsin Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) Performance
This article provides a brief overview of Wisconsin Supplemental Coverage Option and discusses its performance from 2015 to 2023.
2025 ARC and PLC Decision Tool
In recent marketing years, the payouts from ARC and PLC programs have shown variability, largely influenced by market and local conditions. This variability can make it challenging for individual farmers to choose the most suitable option for their specific area and crop. To assist with this decision, Extension has developed a What-If Tool to help Wisconsin producers analyze potential payments at various price levels and county yields.
Field Notes Episode 24: Generational and Organic Farming Transitions
Transitioning a farm with the bumps and successes along the way. Darren Eichelkraut farms on a 50 cow organic dairy with his family, including his dad, Junior Eichelkraut, right next to Paoli, Wisconsin. Darren and Junior tell us the story about how Junior transitioned the farm to organic, allowing Darren to come back to and eventually take over the farm.
Historical ARC and PLC Payouts in Wisconsin
The UW-Madison Division of Extension Farm Management Program has developed interactive tools, referred to as payout visualization tools, to assist Wisconsin producers in comparing ARC-County (ARC-CO) and PLC payments by county, commodity, and irrigation type.
Wisconsin Agricultural Land Prices 2024
Each year, UW-Madison Division of Extension compiles an Agricultural Land Price Report which discusses the changing price of farmland in Wisconsin.
New Tool Helps Farmers Make Conservation Decisions
Using datasets from large numbers of farms, Dr. Jeff Hadachek created a model that allows farmers to input their own costs to see how their bottom line would be affected if they implemented specific conservation practices. Read more and access the tool here.
