Salt Fork Farms
Peg Hemmelgarn · Thayer County, NE · Katie Rennick · client since 2016
67k bu at 76% priced · 333 head at 68% sold
$767.2K under management
Self directedCosts are estimatesLast spoke in 16 days6 other findings(785) 555-9230
1 break-even is more than 6 months old. Every target, every margin and every recommendation on that crop is measured against numbers set before this season's fertilizer, fuel and cash rent were known. Getting Peg Hemmelgarn onto Farmer Metrics is what stops this being a phone call every six months. See the referral path.
From their books
0%
The rest were stated on a call or estimated from county averages.
Oldest
8 mo
The desk treats anything past 6 months as not trusted.
Desk cushion
$0.10
A break-even is an estimate, so pricing exactly at one is pricing at the midpoint of an error bar.
On Farmer Metrics
No
Costs have to be collected by phone every season.
Cost of production, by crop
| Crop | Break-even | Source | As of | Expected | Cost of the crop | Cash bid over cost | Trusted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wheat new crop · 254 acres at 59 bu | $5.02 | Stated on a call | Dec 9, 2025 8 months old | 15k bu | $75,230 $296/acre | +$0.67 bid $5.69 | Out of date |
| Wheat old crop · 219 acres at 61 bu | $5.05 | County estimate | Apr 9, 2026 4 months old | 13k bu | $67,463 $308/acre | +$0.09 bid $5.14 | With a caveat |
| Corn new crop · 207 acres at 185 bu | $4.44 | County estimate | Jul 9, 2026 1 month old | 38k bu | $170,030 $821/acre | -$0.24 bid $4.20 | With a caveat |
The desk treats a break-even older than 6 months as not trusted, because six months spans a planting-to-harvest change in fertilizer, fuel and cash rent. A February break-even used to justify an August sale is a different farm's numbers.
Cost per acre is the cost of the crop divided by planted acres, so it moves with yield as well as with cost. A good year lowers the cost per bushel without a single input getting cheaper, which is the part clients find hardest to believe and the reason the plan is written in dollars per bushel.