GrainStrategy

Rolling Plains Family Farms

Neil Gruber · Mitchell County, KS · Katie Rennick · client since 2024

114k bu at 73% priced
$751.4K under management
Self directedCosts are estimatesLast spoke in 20 days8 other findings(785) 555-3905
3 of 3 break-evens did not come from this family's books. The plans built on them are sound and the numbers under them are what somebody remembered, so the confidence in every margin on the other tabs is capped by that. Worth saying out loud to Neil Gruber rather than leaving implied.
From their books
0%
The rest were stated on a call or estimated from county averages.
Oldest
6 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

CropBreak-evenSourceAs ofExpectedCost of the cropCash bid over costTrusted
Corn
new crop · 537 acres at 136 bu
$4.36County estimateJul 9, 2026
1 month old
73k bu$318,420
$593/acre
+$0.03
bid $4.39
With a caveat
Soybeans
new crop · 502 acres at 42 bu
$10.16County estimateFeb 9, 2026
6 months old
21k bu$214,213
$427/acre
+$0.58
bid $10.74
With a caveat
Soybeans
old crop · 435 acres at 45 bu
$10.44County estimateJun 9, 2026
2 months old
20k bu$204,363
$470/acre
+$0.26
bid $10.70
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.