Let’s say you can get the cost of the bin and auger together down to $3.50 per bushel by shopping around and doing some work yourself and so on.

Take that $3.5 per bushel and invest it in the stock market. S&P historically returns 11% or so over 30 years but be conservative and say 7%.

30 years from now that $3.50 turns into $26.64 at 7%.

What will you sell the bin for 30 years from now? Scrap? $1 per bushel if you are lucky?

So the difference between the two choices is $25.64 per bushel.

Over the next 30 years you have to gain that much to break even. This does not include maintenance and repairs and labor and utilities and property taxes and so on.

Keep In mind that there are years where it does not pay to keep grain in the bin. Some years the basis is better at harvest and you stick it in the bin because that is what you’re set up for and so you go backwards. Not common but it does happen.

That is the con side.

But there are some pro sides as well:

1. Some years you might gain $1 on basis and with a wider marketing window you might also gain $1 on futures. People say that bins can’t be paid for with gains in the futures but I disagree. One of the great advantages of bins that it expands your marketing window. You could have started marketing the 2026 crop in late 2022 if you wanted to (or even earlier if you are willing to do riskier things) but most people don’t go much further than 1 year out. Most people don’t sell 100% of their production either so even if you did sell for a great price really early, you probably have some overrun. It’s just a fact that when you have bins, the number of months that you have to set a futures price is longer so you will be less likely to choose the lowest price of the year especially on overrun bushels if you have storage.

2. if you’re serious about this career you probably need to invest in stuff that will make you good at this career. Bins are one of those things. It increases your flexibility. It’s like a carpenter buying a table saw. You can do more stuff as a farmer if you have bins.

3. intangibles like getting your crop harvested earlier due to making harvest logistics better cannot be ignored. It’s really hard to put a number on those things. Sometimes that can prevent a lot of loss.