Break-Even Selling Price Calculator
Minimum sale price from production cost and yield.
About this calculator
Knowing your breakeven price before you set marketing targets keeps you from accidentally locking in a loss. This calculator divides your total production cost per acre — everything for seed, fertilizer, chemicals, labor, and equipment — by your yield in bushels per acre to get a direct cost per bushel, then adds an overhead layer (land rent, insurance, interest) calculated as a percentage of that direct cost rather than a separate flat number. Breakeven price is the sum of direct cost per bushel and overhead per bushel: sell below it across your whole crop and you lose money once all costs are counted, even if the sale price looks fine in isolation.
Total production and total cost scale the per-acre figures up across your full acreage, giving the whole-farm cost picture for the year. The 10% and 20% profit price targets are simply the breakeven price scaled up by those margins — straightforward reference points for setting realistic forward-contract or futures targets rather than guessing at "a good price." The main thing to watch is that yield is doing double duty here: a lower actual yield than assumed raises your true breakeven after the fact, since the same total cost is spread over fewer bushels, so it's worth rerunning this with your final harvested yield once it's known, not just your pre-season estimate, to see whether your marketing decisions during the season actually cleared breakeven.
Inputs
Results
Breakeven price ($/bu)
2.88
How to Use This Calculator
- Enter Total Cost Per Acre covering seed, fertilizer, chemicals, labor, and equipment.
- Enter Expected Yield in bushels per acre and Total Acres in production.
- Enter the Overhead Percentage for land rent, insurance, and interest.
- Review Breakeven Price Per Bushel — you must sell above this price to cover all costs.
- Check 10% and 20% Profit Price targets to set realistic selling goals for the season.
How the result changes with Yield (bu/acre)
| Yield (bu/acre) | Breakeven price ($/bu) |
|---|---|
| 90 | 5.75 |
| 135 | 3.83 |
| 270 | 1.92 |
| 450 | 1.15 |
What each input means
- Cost per acre ($)
- Total production cost per acre (seed, fertilizer, chemicals, labor, equipment).
- Yield (bu/acre)
- Expected or actual yield in bushels per acre.
- Total acres
- Total crop acres.
- Overhead %
- Land rent, insurance, interest as % of direct costs.
What each result means
- Breakeven price ($/bu)
- Minimum selling price to cover all costs.
- Total production (bu)
- Total expected bushels produced.
- Total cost ($)
- All-in production cost including overhead.
- 10% profit price ($/bu)
- Selling price for 10% profit margin.
- 20% profit price ($/bu)
- Selling price for 20% profit margin.
How this is calculated
Worked example, using the default values
- Identify Input Parameters4 parametersCost per acre ($) = 450, Yield (bu/acre) = 180, Total acres = 500, Overhead % = 15 = 4 input(s) provided
- Calculate Breakeven priceBreakeven price = round((directCostPerBu + overheadPerBu) * 10000) / 100002.875 = 2.875
- Calculate Total productionTotal production = yieldBuPerAcre * totalAcres90000 = 90000
- Calculate Total costTotal cost = totalCostPerAcre * totalAcres * (1 + overheadPct / 100)258750 = $258,750
Engine last updated . Checked against 2 independently-derived tests — how we verify calculators. Built by Paul Gunder, a software engineer, not a licensed financial, medical, or legal professional.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is overhead calculated as a percentage of direct cost instead of its own dollar amount?
The calculator treats overhead — land rent, insurance, interest — as a percentage layered on top of direct cost per bushel rather than a separate flat figure, which mirrors how these costs are commonly estimated for budgeting: they scale with the size of the direct-cost base rather than being fixed regardless of production cost. Overhead per bushel is direct cost per bushel times your entered overhead percentage.
How do the 10% and 20% profit price targets get calculated?
They're simply the breakeven price multiplied by 1.10 and 1.20 respectively — straightforward reference points scaled off your actual cost structure, rather than arbitrary round numbers, that you can use when setting forward-contract or futures price targets for the season.
Why would my breakeven price change after harvest is actually done?
Yield is the divisor in the direct-cost-per-bushel calculation, so if your actual harvested yield comes in lower than the yield figure you entered, that same total cost per acre gets spread over fewer bushels and your true breakeven rises. Rerunning the calculator with final harvested yield, not just your pre-season estimate, is the only way to see whether your in-season marketing decisions actually cleared breakeven.
What costs should I include in "cost per acre," and what's left out?
Cost per acre is meant to capture direct production costs only — seed, fertilizer, chemicals, labor, and equipment. Land rent, insurance, and interest are intentionally kept separate and added afterward as the overhead percentage, so don't fold those into the cost-per-acre input or you'll double-count them once overhead is applied.
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