IFCN Cash Crop: Benchmarking Farms Globally - Oilseed Production Costs

Vegetable oil production has become one of the fastest expanding cash crop sectors in the last 50 years and it is still increasing rapidly. However the regions of expansion, the sources of plant oil and their importance vary over time. To shed light on this development it is necessary to look at the farm level production systems and their production costs for a variety of countries and oilseeds. In this paper we present the first results of the IFCN Cash Crop Network covering the international comparison of oilseed producing farms.

A total of 25 farms with oilseed production have been analysed in compiling this paper. All farms produce at least one of the following oilseeds: soybeans, oilseed rape, sunflower and (two farms) mustard. The farms are located in 14 different countries/regions and represent typical oilseed producing farms in their region/country. The farm data was collected and compiled in all countries and regions by IFCN Partners according to IFCN standards to en-sure its international comparability.

The most competitive farms in oilseed production worldwide can be found in South America. The farms in Ukraine also have great potential. At the moment the farms in Argentina show the highest profit margins. The farms from North America can also cover their full costs with the prices they receive for soybeans, sunflower and rape seed.

Keywords: Farm comparisons, Cash Crop production, International competitiveness, Inter- national Farm Comparison Network; Oilseed, Benchmarking.