Varies massively, depending the the district, Mike but yes some would be $140/mt.
General rules:
- more marginal country much lower, due to far less input costs and larger acreage = economies of scale. Similarly, high rainfall usually higher costs.
- larger acreage anywhere = lower ave costs, same reason as above.
- costs increase proportionately with distance to silo, due to freight rates and fuel
- an important emerging issue is ownership structure. Due to current generations moving away from farming into industries like mining, there are more farmers with higher debt levels, as land is sold for the highest price achievable to both new and existing farmers, as opposed to being consolidated into the family.
I'd say, $120-200/mt would be the range. Thankfully, many of the ones at the higher end of that range are the ones with good production certainty so they can forward price grain at any time if prices are attractive. Many of the farmers with lower average costs are too marginal to price in March/April, when key northern hemisphere planting risks can create excellent upside volatility.
