The ISU University Extension presented the survey recently, which polled 187 farmers in the state. Of those polled, 30 percent do custom work, 18 hire out custom work, while 52 percent said they did both.
The information presented based on the survey shows both the average price per job and the cost range reported by the survey's respondents. For example, corn combining comes to an average price of $29.90 an acre, while the range for such work spanned from $20 to $40.
For farm wages, the average paid an hour for spraying and harvesting came to $12.80, with a range of $8 to $20. In the "other operations" category for wages, the average came to $11.70 an hour with a range of $7.50 to $15.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 767,000 workers were hired to labor on farms and ranches in the U.S. during the week of January 16. The average wage amounted to $11.06 an hour.
