An Evaluation of Costs of Ownership, Custom Work, and Leasing Arrangements of Farm Equipment Applicable to Dryland Farming in Box Elder County, Utah

Today profitable dry farming requires a considerable amount of machinery and equipment. Many farm management people, creditors in agriculture production and farmers themselves recognize that a high percentage of gross income is spent on machinery and equipment. machinery expense represents the largest expenditure on dryland farms in Box Elder County. Farms in the county are relatively small, but even on the smaller farms most farmers have a complete line of farm machinery. In most cases, the machinery is not used anywhere near its maximum. Some Box Elder operators are hiring custom work but it is not a general practice and does not seem to be very popular with even the small farmers. There was no leasing of farm equipment in the county at the time of this study. However, farm machinery dealers have offered such service when enough interest was present. Farm mortgage delinquency is high in Box Elder County. Part of this problem results from too much investment in farm machinery. Many farms have enough equipment to care for double or triple their present acreage. The farmers low sales resistance coupled with steady pressure by salesmen to buy more and newer equipment aggravate the problem. Neither the Extension Service or the Department of Agriculture Economics of Utah State University have mode any concerted effort to assist farmers with this serious economics problem. However, the seriousness of this situation, not restricted to Box Elder county only, justifies an attempt to determine the most economical means of doing farm work