What it costs to have someone bring equipment to your farm and put it to work is the focus of a new University of Idaho survey.

Through the 2025 Custom Rate Survey, UI aims to provide its first comprehensive data set on custom farming services in the state since 2019.

“This is easily the most asked-for report update,” said Brett Wilder, Caldwell-based UI area extension educator in farm business management. “Producers and custom operators need an unbiased source they can use for the basis of rate negotiations.”

And it is common for a farmer who owns a tractor or other piece of equipment to “do some work for their neighbor down the road,” Wilder said. “They reach out to us for an idea of what to charge when they have no idea.”

A 2024 survey lacked sufficient participation to warrant publication of results, mostly because farmers were already busy in their fields, he said. This year, UI started the survey earlier and offered a chance for participants to win a retail gift card.

Surveying is “the only way we have to collect this information, aggregate it, and put out a guide for producers to use,” Wilder said. “The more responses we receive, the better the end product will be.”

Farmers face some high input costs coupled with low prices for various commodities. Custom work can be an alternative to buying equipment or a way to increase cash flows, “depending on which side of the transaction you fall,” he said.

Survey participants remain anonymous. Data will be aggregated to prevent distinguishing an individual’s identity. The survey can be completed on paper, or online at https://uidaho.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0wasN4z54b0HJNs.

UI plans to close the survey during the first week of March and hold a drawing for two $50 gift cards.

Information: Contact Wilder at 208-885-0263 or bwilder@uidaho.edu.