Agricultural Budget Calculator
The free Agricultural Budget Calculator (ABC) program is designed to assist agricultural producers in determining their cost of production and projected cash and economic returns for their various farm or ranch enterprises. It is developed by the Center for Agricultural Profitability in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Department of Agricultural Economics.
Register to Use ABC User Training Sessions Recorded Tutorial Videos UNL Crop Budgets ABC FAQ
To learn more on how to use the ABC program, check out the recorded tutorials tab above or view a previously recorded webinar on enterprise budgets and the ABC program features.
Related articles and webinar recordings:
Figuring Field Operation Costs Using the Agricultural Budget Calculator Program
Management Decisions Made Easier Using the Ag Budget Calculator
Nebraska Crop Budgets: Estimating Costs, Margins, Yield & Price Breakeven (Dec. 1, 2022 Webinar)
How It Works
When using ABC, an enterprise can be defined by the user based on what makes sense and fits their operation. Crops may be entered individually or entered field by field, and/or by dryland or irrigated enterprise acres. Cattle enterprises can be separated by breeding and non-breeding enterprises such as a cow-calf breeding enterprise, backgrounding cattle (non-breeding), and on toward a finishing enterprise.
The ABC program link is: agbudget.unl.edu.
To create your own enterprise budgeting account, enter your email address and create a password that you can remember. Budgets that you create now and into the future will be saved in your account. There are help messages throughout the program using the question mark icon . Click on the icon to read the help message, then click on it again to close the messages.
We’re interested in user feedback, so please stay in touch as you have questions and comments about the ABC program by email gmcclure3@unl.edu.
Agricultural Budget Calculator program funding sources include: The Nebraska Soybean Board, The North Central Extension Risk Management Education Center, USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture under Award Numbers 1018-70027-28586, 2021-70027-34694, 2023-70027-40444, and 2024-70027-42470, along with the Nebraska Corn Board.
Agricultural Budget Calculator Overview Video
Glennis McClure, extension educator and farm and ranch management analyst, provides an overview of ABC's interface and functionality.
More Information
Enterprise Budgets Available for Download and Use in ABC
Nebraska Crop Budgets and some Nebraska Cattle Budget examples are now available within the Ag Budget Calculator program to download into your ABC program account. After one or more budgets are downloaded, they can be customized to reflect your own farm or ranch enterprises. Field operations, cattle herd numbers, production estimates, yearly rates and prices, and the materials and services input section along with direct and overhead expenses can all be entered or modified within the ABC program. With ABC enterprise budgets, revenue projections can be entered to evaluate net returns above costs for the budget year.
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln's Department of Agricultural Economics and Center for Ag Profitability invites ag producers and farm managers to view, download, and modify sample budgets designed as guides while using the Agricultural Budget Calculator (ABC) program.
The University of Nebraska annual crop budgets are available in the system to draw information from, with individual UNL crop budgets available for download and use in the system. Analysis features were added for decision making assistance in the crop module, including a risk module relating to corn and soybean production in Nebraska. For non-breeding cattle enterprises, a gains summary is included, summarizing the cost of gain and the value of gain projection.
The whole farm tab in ABC is available where individual crop enterprise budgets can be summarized with overhead expense allocations and where some expense reconciliations can be made. The cash flow feature in ABC is available now in summarizing crop income and expense projections by month.
Learning to use a program like the new Ag Budget Calculator will assist you in customizing your farm and ranch enterprise budgets and to make decisions using this information.
Watch for the Specialty Crop module to be added soon!
Questions?
Contact Glennis McClure
Associate Extension Educator,
Farm & Ranch Management Analyst
Upcoming Events
The ABC program and materials are based upon work supported by USDA/NIFA under Award Number 2018-70027-28586, 2021-70027-34694 and 2023-70027-40444.