Irrigation system ROI, energy upgrade payback, purchase vs hire analysis, and storage investment economics — powered by USDA ARS engineering research and live energy market data.
Official USDA price received and yield data by commodity, state, and year. Price auto-populates Storage Loss market price (SF19-E.003). Yield provides per-acre quantity reference for drying and storage calculators.
Source: USDA NASS QuickStats. Reference data used as fallback. Not endorsed by NASS.
Monthly USDA WASDE forecast — U.S. production, use, ending stocks, and projected season-average price. Use alongside NASS actuals to stress-test storage loss and drying calculations against forecast price scenarios.
Source: USDA FAS PSD Online (WASDE-aligned monthly forecast). Reference data used as fallback.
Side-by-side view of NASS historical actuals versus USDA WASDE forecast. Fetch both sources first, then select a commodity to compare. Use the price difference to run scenario analysis in the economics calculators.
Tip: Use the WASDE forecast price in economics calculators to model best-case / worst-case ROI scenarios alongside the NASS actual.
Calculate the return on investment for installing or upgrading an irrigation system. Accounts for capital cost, yield benefit from reliable water supply, energy cost, and system lifespan.
Evaluate the payback period and ROI for farm energy efficiency upgrades including variable frequency drives, high-efficiency motors, LED lighting, and solar pumping systems.
Determine whether purchasing a machine or hiring custom operations is more economical for a given operation size. Based on ASABE machinery cost standards and USDA-ARS machinery management guidelines.
Calculate the net return from on-farm grain storage investment. Models basis improvement potential, commercial storage cost savings, pricing flexibility value, and bin depreciation over the asset life.
Built on USDA-ARS agricultural engineering economics research — AgrStak SF19 economics calculators help farm managers and operators evaluate the return on capital investments in irrigation systems, energy efficiency upgrades, equipment purchases, and grain storage. These 4 tools convert engineering specifications into financial decision frameworks.
Models are grounded in ASABE machinery cost standards, USDA-ARS irrigation ROI benchmarks, and on-farm grain storage economics. Part of AgrStak's 431-model platform — patent pending.