Photo of wheat being harvested. — Oklahoma’s annual wheat harvest is an agricultural activity that benefits from knowing custom rates for a given area. (Photo by Todd Johnson, OSU Agricultural Communications Services)

Farmers urged to return custom rates survey ASAP

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Media Contact: Donald Stotts | Agricultural Communications Services | 405-744-4079 | donald.stotts@okstate.edu

Oklahoma State University Extension is asking agricultural producers who received a custom rates survey to please fill it out and return it in the postage-paid Business Reply envelope by Oct. 8.

The research results provide important, reliable estimates about custom rates in a given area, said Roger Sahs, OSU Extension specialist for enterprise budgets and land values.

“Reported custom rates provide information that is key for negotiations between farmers and custom operators,” he said. “They let producers who hire work done to plan their budgets and those who perform custom work to know the range of what should be charged.”

Producers’ mailing identification is kept separate from their individual questionnaire to maintain confidentiality. Only totals, averages and other statistical measures are made public.

Results are published annually in OSU Extension Current Report 205, “Oklahoma Farm and Ranch Custom Rates.” The report will be available online and through all OSU Extension county offices beginning January 2022.

OSU Extension conducts the surveys in cooperation with the Oklahoma Field Office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

“Be aware it’s not unusual for NASS to follow up and call individuals who received a survey but did not respond,” Sahs said. “The information really is that important.”