FAR contracts Macfarlane Rural Business (MRB) to update the Cost of Production spreadsheet annually. View the updated spreadsheet for 2026 here.
Costs on this sheet are for a standard set of crops from a case study of a typical irrigated Mid-Canterbury arable farm with a mid- to high-input system, using contractor prices. As such, these figures may not exactly reflect your particular farm system. They provide historical trends and a tool for growers to include inputs and prices that are closer to their own situations and regional locations. It is important to note that these were the prices for the 2025-2026 growing season and not the current prices as at autumn 2026.
Given the price volatility and uncertainties of the present, we have requested further forecasts from MRB based on the existing case studies, and also an expansion of the list of crops to be analysed. These will be published over the next few weeks.