The $84-an-Acre Leak Nobody Talks About: Why Your Machinery Shed Is Quietly Eating More of Your Profit Than Diesel (and the One Income Stream That Barely Needs a Tractor)
Updated: 4 days ago
It was a Friday in planting season when a sensor on Jeff Kippley's planter quit.
The South Dakota farmer could not tell which sensor had failed, because he did not have the diagnostic software to read it. The technician could not reach his farm until Monday afternoon. Then the rain came. His crop went in more than a week late, and he lost 20% of his yield.
Now that kind of story has a price tag. Repair data analysed by Willie Cade for Repair.org found that US farms spent about $84 per harvested acre on machinery repairs in 2025. That is roughly 2.5 times the $34 per acre they spent on fuel. The bigger leak in your machine shed is not diesel. It is repairs. And one income stream that can help plug it barely needs a tractor: paying visitors.
The Short Answer: Machinery repairs cost US farms about $84 per harvested acre in 2025, about 2.5 times the $34 spent on fuel, according to an analysis for Repair.org reported by Mid-West Farm Report. Dealer technicians backorder required parts on about a quarter of service calls. Farming more acres can add more machine hours and more repair bills. Visitor income (farm tours, a farm shop, seasonal events) earns from the land and buildings you already have, with few or no new machines, and can bring cash in during different months from your crop cheque. |
The Number That Should Change How You Look at Your Machine Shed
Most farmers watch the diesel price like a hawk. It is on the sign at the fuel depot. It is on the news. You feel it every time you fill the tank.
Repairs are different. They arrive one invoice at a time, spread across the year, mixed in with parts, labour and travel. Nobody puts them on a sign. So they rarely get the same attention.
Here is what the new figures show, as reported by Mid-West Farm Report on November 5, 2026:
What the data says | Figure |
|---|---|
Machinery repairs per harvested acre, 2025 | $84 |
Fuel per harvested acre, 2025 | $34 |
Repairs compared with fuel | About 2.5 times (84 ÷ 34 = 2.47) |
Years from 2016 to 2025 when repairs per acre doubled fuel (citing USDA NASS data) | Every year except 2022 |
Diesel price in 2022, the exception year | $4.99 a gallon |
Repairs compared with fuel if diesel hit $6.00 a gallon in 2026 (Cade's estimate) | About 1.6 times |
How often dealer technicians backorder required parts on service calls | 26.2% |
Read that last line again. On roughly one service call in four, the part you need is not on the shelf.
Even when diesel hurts, repairs still lead. Cade's own estimate is that repairs would still cost about 1.6 times as much as fuel even at $6.00 diesel.
And diesel has hurt this year. University of Illinois farmdoc daily reported Illinois agricultural diesel at $5.76 a gallon on October 16, 2026, the highest in the series since USDA began reporting it in 2008. Yet the same researchers found fuel made up only 2.8% of non-land costs for Illinois corn from 2019 to 2025. We covered the fuel side in The $8 Billion Fuel Bailout Won't Save Your Farm, what diesel now costs dairy farms per cow and how one corn maze repriced its tickets when diesel jumped.
Reality Check: The $84 and $34 figures come from Willie Cade's analysis for Repair.org, as reported by Mid-West Farm Report. The report does not say which crops or farm types the per-acre figures cover, and we could not find the full analysis published. USDA's own national survey bundles "farm supplies and repairs" together: $24.8 billion in 2025, against $15.6 billion for fuel. So treat $84 as a national yardstick, not your bill. Your farm, your crops and your machines will differ. |
Why Repair Bills Keep Climbing (and Why It Isn't Your Fault)
If your repair costs feel out of control, you are not imagining it. And you are not doing anything wrong.
The Mid-West Farm Report story points to three causes. Dealers keep lean parts inventories. Farmers often travel long distances to find parts. And manufacturers limit diagnostic software to authorized dealers.
A farmer friend of Cade's had his combine break down on the first day of harvest. He drove more than 800 miles for a refurbished part.
The pain shows up in surveys too. In late 2022, the advocacy group U.S. PIRG Education Fund surveyed 53 farmers in 14 states. It is a small sample from a group that campaigns for right to repair, so read it as a snapshot, not a census. Still, the findings are hard to ignore:
53% said they had lost crop or livestock because a breakdown caused downtime.
The group averaged $3,348 a year in losses from downtime tied to repair restrictions.
Dealer mechanics averaged $148 an hour, against $89 an hour for independent mechanics.
Behind those numbers are real farms. North Dakota farmer Beau Locken once lost an entire soybean crop when both his combines broke down just before a heavy snowfall. In eastern Montana, Sarah Degn waited three days for a dealer part during harvest while wind cracked her soybean pods onto the ground.
Fifth-generation Montana farmer Walter Schweitzer summed up the bind: "we're damned if we do, damned if we don't."
Many producers are now going back to older, mechanical equipment that does not need a laptop or dealer software to diagnose, Mid-West Farm Report notes. That can help. But older machines carry their own repair bills as the hours pile up.
This is the same squeeze we see across every input line, from fertiliser to labour. If it feels like everything costs more while your crop pays the same, read why 47% of farmers call rising input costs their No. 1 problem and why so many farms keep selling below the cost of production.
The Worked Example: What $84 an Acre Means on Your Farm
Averages are easy to shrug off. So let's put the $84 on a real-sized farm.
The table below is illustrative only. It simply multiplies acres by the national per-acre averages above. It assumes your farm matches the national average, which it almost certainly does not.
Harvested acres (illustrative) | Repairs at $84/acre | Fuel at $34/acre | Repairs minus fuel |
|---|---|---|---|
500 | $42,000 | $17,000 | $25,000 |
1,000 | $84,000 | $34,000 | $50,000 |
2,000 | $168,000 | $68,000 | $100,000 |
On a 1,000-acre farm at the national average, repairs would run $84,000 a year. That is $50,000 more than the fuel bill most farmers worry about.
Now look at what a small rise does. If your repair rate rose 10%, from $84 to $92.40 an acre, a 1,000-acre farm would pay $8,400 more a year (illustrative: $8.40 × 1,000 acres).
You did not plant one more seed. You did not sell one more bushel. The machine shed just took another bite.
Field-Tested Play: Find your own number before you plan next season. Pull your last three years of repair invoices (parts, labour, service calls, travel to fetch parts) and divide each year's total by your harvested acres. Write the three figures side by side. If yours is climbing, you now have proof, in your own handwriting, that more acres means more repair exposure. |
The Deere Settlement Deadline: What It Is (General Information Only)
The repair debate is in the headlines for another reason. Farmers face a December 4, 2026 deadline in a proposed class-action settlement with John Deere.
Reality Check: This section is general information, not legal advice. We are not telling you whether to file a claim, opt out, object or do nothing. Read the official settlement notice, contact the settlement administrator, and talk to your own lawyer before you decide. |
Here are the facts as published on the official settlement website and in farm news coverage:
The case: In re Deere & Company Repair Services Antitrust Litigation, No. 3:22-cv-50188, MDL No. 3030, in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Western Division. Deere denies the allegations.
Who is in the class: People and businesses that bought repair services for Deere "Large Agricultural Equipment" from Deere or its authorized dealers in the United States between January 10, 2018 and May 18, 2026.
The money: $99 million in cash, plus interest. News reports note the net payout will likely be lower after attorney and litigation costs. Payments are based on the total labour hours spent on Deere repair services.
The repair terms: Deere must make repair capabilities and tools available to farmers and independent repair shops. This part applies to class members whether or not they file a claim.
December 4, 2026: The deadline to exclude yourself (opt out) or to object.
December 31, 2026: The deadline to file a claim form for a cash payment.
January 19, 2027: The final approval (fairness) hearing.
The website: Angeion Group provides the official settlement website, listed in the Sources at the end of this article.
Views on the deal differ. The plaintiffs' expert puts the total settlement value at $392.9 million to $747 million, counting the repair terms. Willie Cade, who analysed the repair data behind the $84 figure with Repair.org, is critical and estimates the cash offer at about 79 cents per acre across eight years. Those are opinions from people with a stake in the debate. Your lawyer can tell you what they mean for you.
Separately, the Federal Trade Commission and five states (Arizona, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin) announced a settlement with Deere on July 8, 2026. It requires Deere to make repair tools available to owners and independent shops, with 10 years of compliance oversight. It still needed court approval when it was announced. The FTC and USDA have also asked farmers for input on parts supply bottlenecks and possible retaliation by manufacturers.
Questions worth taking to your lawyer:
Am I in the class, based on the equipment I own and where I bought repairs?
What happens to my rights if I file a claim, opt out, object or do nothing?
How do I find my repair labour hours since 2018 if I don't have the records?
Does the separate FTC order change anything for me?
Whatever happens in court, one thing will not change by December 4: your machines will still need fixing next season. That is why the rest of this article is about income, not lawsuits.
Why More Acres Isn't the Answer
When margins shrink, the old instinct is to farm more. Rent the neighbour's ground. Spread the machinery cost over more acres.
That can work on paper. But look at what the new numbers say. If repairs scale with machine hours, more acres can mean more breakdowns, more parts on backorder and more repair bills, on top of rent, seed, fertiliser and interest.
Here is an illustrative example. Renting 200 more acres at the national average repair rate would add about $16,800 a year in repairs ($84 × 200), before you pay a dollar of rent. Your real number could be higher or lower, because repair costs depend on your machines and how hard you run them.
And with US farm debt at a record and operating loans now costing more, borrowing to grow is riskier than it used to be. See US farm debt hits a record $605 billion and what 5.6% FSA loan rates mean for your farm.
The second road does not ask your machines to work harder. It asks your farm to work differently.
The Income Stream That Barely Needs a Tractor
Visitor income (agritourism) means getting paid to welcome people onto your farm. Tours. A farm shop. Pick-your-own. A harvest festival. A workshop in the barn.
It is not a fringe idea. According to the USDA Census of Agriculture, US farms earned $1.26 billion from agritourism and recreational services in 2022, up from $949.3 million in 2017. That income came from 28,617 farms, with average receipts of $44,004 per farm.
Big farms are in it too. Farms over 2,000 acres earned $251.7 million in agritourism income in 2022, $43 million more than in 2017, DTN reported.
Reality Check: An average is not a promise. A few large operations pull the average up, and many farms earn far less. Before you count on any number, read how much agritourism farms really make and the full agritourism statistics. |
What makes visitor income different from more acres? Look at what it actually runs on:
Land you already have. A field edge, an orchard, a pond, a view.
Buildings you already have. An empty shed, an old barn, a yard. Some farms even rent out farm buildings to businesses.
Your knowledge. How you grow, why you farm, what a day on your farm looks like.
People. This is the real cost, and we'll come back to it.
Visitor income still needs some equipment. A mower. Maybe a wagon for hayrides. But it does not need a bigger combine, and it does not need a dealer's laptop to run.
If you want the full method, read how to launch an agritourism business using only the infrastructure you already own and asset-light agritourism.
Real Farms That Built Visitor Income
None of the farms below said they started because of repair bills. But each one shows where the money can come from when the crop alone is not enough.
Donnell Century Farm, Jackson, Tennessee. The farm dates to 1826. Seventh-generation farmer Andrew Donnell stopped growing corn, soybeans and cotton in 2019 and leased the crop land out, DTN reported. The farm now offers 30 attractions and a butcher shop, and food sales are about a third of gross revenue. His reason was blunt: "None of the commodities are working well when I put a pencil to it."
Dull's Tree Farm, near Thorntown, Indiana. Lucas and Dana Dull left row-crop farming in 2019, and the row-crop land is leased to a family member. The farm now draws about 80,000 visitors a year to 45 activities and grows 40 pumpkin and squash varieties on just eight acres.
Southern Belle Farm, Henry County, Georgia. Jake Carter's family has farmed this land for five generations. It now draws about 500,000 guests a year, including 40,000 schoolchildren, with you-pick fruit and flowers, wagon rides, food and a retail market.
Kemps Farm, Horsforth, Yorkshire, England. A mixed arable and livestock family farm, Kemps started pick-your-own pumpkins in 2018 after success with pick-your-own fruit and direct turkey sales. It grows more than 70,000 pumpkins a year and uses ticketing to smooth out the busy times, Farmers Weekly reported.
Farmer Copley's, Yorkshire, England. Rob and Heather Copley started with a tiny farm shop and butchery. The Yorkshire Post reported the business turned over £5.5 million and employed 100 people, with a pumpkin festival, a maize maze, strawberry picking and a café. Read the full story in our Farmer Copley's case study.
The UK numbers back this up. In England, 72% of farms had a diversified activity in 2024/25, and those farms earned an average of £31,100 from it, according to government farm accounts. Tourist accommodation and catering averaged £8,700 per farm doing it. Sport and recreation averaged £3,600. So results vary a lot by activity. If you farm in Britain, also read what the farms that survived a record year of UK closures did differently.
In Canada, 13.6% of farms reported direct sales to customers in 2020, according to Statistics Canada. Direct sales are often the first step toward a farm stand, a shop and, later, visitors.
How Visitor Income Evens Out Cash Flow When the Combine Is Down
Here is the part most articles miss.
The real damage from a breakdown is not just the repair bill. It is the timing. When a combine sits in the shop for weeks, the harvest slips, the sale slips, and the cheque slips. Meanwhile the loan payment, the wages and the parts invoice all arrive on time.
Penn State Extension says diversifying income and extending the season can "protect farmers against downside risk and cash flow problems." That does not mean visitor income will rescue a lost crop. It means you have money arriving from a different source, often in different months.
The chart above is a made-up example to show the idea, not a forecast. The orange bars are crop sales, delayed by a two-month repair. The green bars are visitor income from tours, a shop and a fall event, paid at the gate on the day.
That last point matters. Visitors usually pay when they arrive. Crops often pay weeks or months after harvest. If that gap is your biggest headache, read farm cash flow problems: why you pay for months before you get paid and why your farm makes money but you still have nothing left.
Reality Check: Fall visitor season often lands right on top of harvest. If the same two people run the combine and the pumpkin patch, something will break, and it might be you. Plan who runs the visitor side before you open. Read why visitor-based income needs fewer hands for ways to keep staffing simple. |
Six Low-Machinery Visitor Income Ideas to Test First
You do not have to build a theme park. Start with one idea that fits what you already have.
No. 1: A farm tour. A guided walk, a story and a tasting. It needs a safe route, a good host and a booking system. Read Farm Tour Business: Real Prices, Ideas and Booking Fees.
No. 2: A farm shop or farm stand. Sell what you grow at retail instead of wholesale. Farmer Copley's started this way.
No. 3: A seasonal event. A harvest day, a pumpkin weekend, a Christmas market. Some UK pumpkin farms charge up to £15 a person when activities are included, Farmers Weekly reported. For more ideas, see 30 farm events by season, with real ticket prices.
No. 4: A workshop or photo session. At Autumn Ridge Farm in Scottdale, Pennsylvania, families pay a $42 sitting fee for photo sessions, DTN reported. Your skills and your scenery are the product.
No. 5: Rent a building. An empty shed or barn can earn rent without a single visitor walking your fields.
No. 6: Pick-your-own. Visitors do the harvesting. Our guide on how to start a pumpkin patch covers acres, costs and pricing.
Field-Tested Play: Don't spend big to find out if people will come. Run one small test day first, with a simple sign-up and a fixed number of tickets. Our 60-minute MVP guide shows how. Then check real startup costs in how much it costs to start an agritourism business. |
Questions to Ask Your Insurer and Lawyer Before the First Visitor Arrives
Visitors bring income. They also bring risk. The good news is that you can ask the right questions before anyone walks through your gate.
According to the National Agricultural Law Center, over half of US states have laws that address agritourism. They range from liability protections for operators to tax credits to zoning rules. In the UK and Canada, the rules are different again. So local advice matters.
Take this list to your insurer:
Does my farm policy cover paying visitors, or do I need agritourism or commercial liability cover?
Are activities like hayrides, animal contact or pick-your-own excluded?
What limits do you recommend for the number of visitors I expect?
Do I need extra cover for events, food sales or a farm shop?
Take this list to your lawyer:
Does my state or province have an agritourism or recreational-use law, and what must I do to qualify (for example, warning signs)?
Will a waiver help, and how should it be worded where I live?
Do I need a business structure that separates the visitor side from the farm?
Take this list to your local planning or zoning office:
Is agritourism allowed on my land, and which activities need a permit?
Are there limits on parking, events, signs or building use?
And ask your accountant how visitor income is taxed where you farm.
For more, see our 50-state guide to agritourism laws, what agritourism insurance covers and costs, whether liability waivers protect your farm, farm wedding venue zoning and agritourism tax questions for your accountant.
What a Durian Farm in Malaysia Taught Me About Income That Doesn't Depend on One Harvest
My farm, Bloopy Durians, is in Bentong, Malaysia. Our durian seasons run about four to five months a year. That leaves most of the year without a durian harvest.
So we built income around people.
We welcome visitors from all over the world. Many companies send their staff and management to the farm. And we keep a WhatsApp list of loyal customers who buy durians whenever they are available. That list has become a reliable source of income, season after season.
We also supplied durians to a Mayor of Kuala Lumpur tourism event, and Kuala Lumpur City Hall gave our team a plaque of appreciation.
The lesson I would pass on to any farmer squeezed by costs: your most dependable income may come from the people who know you and want to visit, not from the next acre.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do farm machinery repairs cost per acre?
An analysis of repair data for Repair.org found US farms spent about $84 per harvested acre on machinery repairs in 2025, as reported by Mid-West Farm Report. Your farm's figure will depend on your crops, machines and how hard you run them.
Do machinery repairs really cost more than fuel?
On the national average, yes. The same analysis put fuel at $34 per harvested acre in 2025, so repairs were about 2.5 times as much. Citing USDA data, the report says repairs per acre doubled fuel in every year from 2016 to 2025 except 2022, when diesel hit $4.99 a gallon.
Why are farm equipment repairs so expensive?
Mid-West Farm Report points to lean dealer parts inventories, long trips to find parts and diagnostic software limited to authorized dealers. Dealer technicians backorder required parts 26.2% of the time on service calls.
What is the December 4 deadline in the John Deere repair settlement?
December 4, 2026 is the deadline to opt out of, or object to, the proposed settlement in In re Deere & Company Repair Services Antitrust Litigation. The claim deadline is December 31, 2026, and the final approval hearing is January 19, 2027. This is general information only. Read the official notice and speak to your own lawyer.
Does agritourism need expensive equipment?
Usually far less than crop farming. Farm tours, farm shops, workshops and pick-your-own run mainly on land, buildings and people you already have. You may still need a mower, safe paths, parking and insurance.
How much can a farm earn from agritourism?
US farms with agritourism averaged $44,004 in receipts in 2022, according to the USDA Census of Agriculture. That is an average, and many farms earn much less. Results depend on location, the activity and how well it is run.
Will visitor income save my farm if a harvest is lost?
No income stream can promise that. What visitor income can do is bring cash in from a different source and often in different months, which can ease the strain when crop sales are delayed.
Your Next Step
Repair bills you can't control are a signal, not a sentence. The farms that come through squeezes like this one are the ones that add a second way to get paid.
Start by finding out what your farm is already good at. The free Farm Readiness Quiz helps you see how ready your farm is for paying visitors and where your best starting point is, so you don't sink money into the wrong idea.
Then get the ideas in your hands. My free ebook, 150 Ways to Unlock Hidden Wealth From Your Farm, gives you 150 income ideas across 10 categories. Each idea comes with a difficulty rating, startup cost, pricing setup, yearly earning potential and a practical tip. It opens with 15 ideas you can start for $5,000 or less, and it includes a 90-day launch roadmap, a pricing worksheet and a break-even formula. It even shows how the tractor in your shed can earn by the hour.
P.S. Jeff Kippley lost 20% of his yield because a sensor failed on a Friday and help came on Monday. You cannot stop every breakdown. But you can make sure the next one does not decide your whole year. Take the quiz today, and let your farm earn in more than one way.
Stephen Loke of AgritourismSuccess.com, whose farm is featured in Bloomberg News and Asahi Shimbun.
This article is general information only. It is not legal, tax or insurance advice. Speak to a qualified professional about your own situation.
Sources
Farm Production Expenditures 2025 Summary, USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (July 2026)
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