Winfields - Can someone help a beginning farmer understand how farmers can have such expensive machinery and make it work? The first thing to understand is your perspective is wrong. It isn't how much per month, but how much per acre. No, a beginning farmer can't afford a 6 digit price tag tractor. He is going to have to scrip and save and get by on what cash flows. I'm using round figures and made up numbers here: 300 acre farmer has a $24,000 tractor. He has $80 per acre in the tractor. Over 4 years with low interest he'll have about $25 per acre per year. If he is farming 3000 acres he can buy a $200,000 tractor for $67 per acre. Over 4 years that's around $20 per acre per year. Those are made up numbers but I'll bet they are close. How much per month makes no difference at all. | 
How do you afford expensive tractors / machinery?
