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2012 Tillage Cost Comparison
This table, with data from University of Illinois, reflects updated 2006 production costs with $3.50/gal. fuel. As such, no-till saves 23% of variable costs, or $19.05/acre, and 1.3 gal. fuel/acre, over “typical till” in this University of Illinois Extension analysis, provided by Gary Schnitkey, farm management specialist, based on averaged corn and soybean costs. The “typical till” uses a field cultivator secondary tillage before planting and a chisel plow operation after corn harvest. The no-till includes field passes for fertilizer and chemical application, planting and combining; but not tillage. Costs are updated from http://bit.ly/AltTill using
University of Illinois 2012 Machinery cost estimates.
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| No-till | “Typical till” | Savings |
| Corn/bean avg. |
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| Fuel use/acre | 2.4 gal./acre | 3.7 gal./acre | 1.3 gal./acre |
| Labor cost/acre | $12.80 | $19.10 | $6.30/acre |
| Implement overhead | $22.00 | $32.20 | $10.20/acre |
| Tractor overhead | $26.43 | $35.88 | $9.48/acre |
| Cost/acre | $62.88 | $81.93 | $19.05/acre |
