A Cost Efficiency Comparison of International Corn, Soybean, and Wheat Production

This paper seeks to compare production costs of similar farms to determine competitiveness across countries. A data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach was used to calculate efficiency indices for farms producing corn, soybeans, wheat, both corn and soybeans, and both corn and wheat. Technical efficiency, allocative efficiency, and cost efficiency were compared for all farms. The data consisted of a five-year (2013-2017) panel of 24 corn-producing farms, 15 soybean-producing farms, 38 wheat-producing farms, 13 farms producing both corn and soybeans, and 17 farms producing both corn and wheat. The agri benchmark network at the Thünen Institute (TI) of Farm Economics manages the dataset that was used in this analysis. Outputs were measured using revenue. Input costs included direct costs, operating costs, and overhead costs.