Break-even price and yield calculator
What price, or how much harvest, covers my costs?
Showing for United States
Break-even price per unit
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- Short-run break-even price (variable costs only)
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- Revenue at your price and yield
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- Net return (negative is a loss)
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Enter costs and yield for the same thing: one acre, one batch or the whole season.
The break-even price and yield are rounded up, so at the figure shown your costs are covered. Tables that round to the nearest cent can show a cent less.
Covering variable costs keeps a farm going in the short run. Covering all costs, fixed ones included, is what keeps it going in the long run.
Break-even yield, in units
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- Short-run break-even yield (variable costs only)
- —
- Revenue at your price and yield
- —
- Net return (negative is a loss)
- —
Enter costs and yield for the same thing: one acre, one batch or the whole season.
The break-even price and yield are rounded up, so at the figure shown your costs are covered. Tables that round to the nearest cent can show a cent less.
Covering variable costs keeps a farm going in the short run. Covering all costs, fixed ones included, is what keeps it going in the long run.
Enter your numbers to see the result.
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Get started with TallyTill for freeUse this calculator in an AI chat
You can ask Claude, ChatGPT or another AI app to work this out for you, and this calculator opens right inside the chat. You connect TallyTill to your AI app once. It is free, and there is no account and no sign-in.
AI apps call add-ons like this connectors, apps or MCP servers. They all mean the same thing: a way for the AI to use a tool someone else made.
1. Copy this address
2. Add it to your AI app
Claude (claude.ai and the Claude desktop app)
- Open Customize, then Connectors.
- Press + Add, then Add custom connector.
- Name it TallyTill calculators, paste the address and press Continue.
- Under Authentication choose No sign in, then press Add.
- In a new chat, press + at the bottom left, choose Connectors and switch TallyTill calculators on.
On Claude's free plan you can add one custom connector.
ChatGPT
- In Settings, turn on Developer mode. OpenAI moves this switch from time to time; it is usually with the settings for apps and connectors.
- Add a new connector (ChatGPT may call it an app), paste the address and choose No authentication.
- In a new chat, choose TallyTill from the tools menu, or type @ and pick it.
Not every ChatGPT plan lets you add your own connector. If you cannot find the option, your plan may not include it.
Using another AI app? Look in its settings for MCP, add the address as a remote server, and choose no sign-in.
3. Ask your question
Say "use TallyTill", so the AI uses the calculator instead of doing the sum itself. For example:
"Use TallyTill: What price, or how much harvest, covers my costs?"
What you will see
- The calculator opens in the chat with the numbers you gave already filled in. Change any number and the answer updates.
- If a number is missing, the box is highlighted, or the AI asks you for it in plain words.
- The answer links back to this page, so you can check the working.
- The first time, your AI app asks if it may use TallyTill. Choose Allow.
The calculators take numbers only. They never ask for your name, your email or a password.
How this is worked out
The break-even price is your total costs divided by the units you expect to produce and sell, and the break-even yield is your total costs divided by your price per unit. This is the method in University of Delaware Extension's enterprise budget fact sheet. Both are rounded up, the price to the cent and the yield to two decimal places, so at the figure shown your costs are covered. If you also enter your variable costs, the calculator shows the same figures for those alone: covering variable costs keeps a farm going in the short run, and covering all costs keeps it going in the long run. With a price and a yield, the net return is the price times the yield, less the total costs.
A worked example
Example numbers only; use your own. University of Delaware's wheat budget puts total costs at 507.36 an acre, of which 268.63 is variable. At an expected 85 bushels an acre the break-even price is 507.36 ÷ 85 = 5.969, rounded up to 5.97 a bushel, and 3.17 for the variable costs alone. At 6.00 a bushel the 85 bushels bring in 510.00, a net return of 2.64. The other way round, at 6.00 a bushel you need 507.36 ÷ 6.00 = 84.56 bushels to break even.
Nothing you type here is saved.