Introduction

In this report, we present the 2024 Wisconsin custom rates to facilitate negotiations because many farms rely on custom agricultural services. These rates are based on the 2024 Wisconsin Custom Rate Survey of Wisconsin farmers, farm managers and custom operators. This online survey launched in March 2025 and had 161 respondents who performed, hired or had knowledge of 2024 custom rates in Wisconsin. On average, 48% of respondents performed custom work, 31% paid for it, and 21% had knowledge of it. For this report, we excluded custom operations with insufficient responses and dropped survey responses from other states. The custom rates reported in this survey include fuel cost unless otherwise stated. In these tables, Average is the simple average of all reported rates, Range is the minimum and maximum reported values, and Responses is the number of usable responses.

To adjust rates for inflation, we suggest using either the percentage increase for a comparable operation between the 2024 and 2025 Iowa Custom Rate Surveys^[1] or the USDA’s Prices Paid Index for Commodities and Services, Interest, Taxes, and Farm Wage Rates (PPITW)^[2]. For example, the custom rate for hay mowing in Iowa was $13.85/acre in 2024 and $14.00/acre in 2025, a (14.00 – 13.85)/13.85 = 1.1% increase. To adjust the 2024 Wisconsin hay mowing rate of $16.20/acre for inflation to 2025, multiplying by 1.011 (1+1.1%) gives an estimated rate of $16.38/acre. The PPITW index for April 2024 was 140.3 and 148.4 for April 2025, for an increase of (148.4 – 140.3)/140.3 = 5.8%, which gives a rate of $17.14/acre. These differences indicate the inexact nature of inflation adjustments, and we suggest using these calculations as starting points for negotiation. Also, actual rates in 2025 will differ from those listed in this report due to many other factors that vary as well, such as fuel costs, equipment availability and age, operator skill and experience, field size and shape, and soil and crop conditions.

To all survey respondents, we are grateful for your participation. We will conduct the 2026 Custom Rates Survey next year. If you would like to be contacted for that survey, please reach out to Silva Gaku, the Extension Farm Financial Management Outreach Specialist at silva.gaku@wisc.edu, 920-342-3180, or go.wisc.edu/silvagaku.

References

[1] https://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/crops/html/a3-10.html

[2] https://usda.library.cornell.edu/concern/publications/c821gj76b?locale=en