What is your understanding of custom farming?

jack

jack

Farm Hand
Messages
92
When I posed this question to a few of my farming friends, I got all sorts of responses. In my understanding, this is a model in which a custom operator performs all machine-related operations on the owner's land at a set rate. With this method, a farm owner ends up reducing financial risk exposure on leased crop land.
 
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Syd. L

Syd. L

Farm Hand
Messages
49
Machine operations may not be an appropriate term. Machine "related" operations may be more apt. Some people do this if they still have acreage that can be farmed but, for whatever reason, cannot do the work. The only cost to the operator is the maintenance to the machinery he or she operates while performing farming operations. That projected cost, of course, is taken into consideration when negotiating the contract stating how much the operator will be compensated.
 
jack

jack

Farm Hand
Messages
92
Machine operations may not be an appropriate term. Machine "related" operations may be more apt. Some people do this if they still have acreage that can be farmed but, for whatever reason, cannot do the work. The only cost to the operator is the maintenance to the machinery he or she operates while performing farming operations. That projected cost, of course, is taken into consideration when negotiating the contract stating how much the operator will be compensated.
Thank you for that correction; I edited the original post accordingly. A thing to note is that this type of farming excludes the application of fertilizers, biologicals or chemicals.
 

tyb525

New member
Messages
1
Custom farming is being hired by someone else, usually another farmer, to do a certain job on the farm with your own equipment. It can be custom tillage, planting, fertilizer application, spraying, harvest, etc. A farmer will usually hire another farmer to do "custom" work if they are behind on schedule or have other delays that keep them from getting things done when they did to be done. A contract can be made for a set price, or it can be done in trade. You help me out, I'll help you out kind of thing.

It's different from renting farm ground in that the custom farmer usually doesn't do every operation required to grow the crop, and they don't usually make decisions as far as what to plant, what variety, what herbicides to use, etc. The farmer doing the hiring is normally still in charge of the big decisions. Whereas when renting ground to farm, the renter makes all the farming decisions himself, and pays the landowner a flat rate per acre of rent regardless of his costs and profits.
 
Kyle M

Kyle M

Farm Hand
Messages
43
I think the reason they use the term "custom" is because the negotiations in the contract phrase customizes what the worker will do. There are no specific jobs per se, but rather the work being done
 
 
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