Abstract

During the years 1982-1987 the Dept. of Agricultural Engineering at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences has run a project about farm machinery costs. The project consisted of four subprojects. 1. Pilot-study of maintenance costs for farm machinery (1982-1983) 2. Detailed and continuous survey of maintenance costs (1984-1986) 3. Depreciation of common farm machinery (1986) 4. Simulation of reliability costs caused by breakdowns (1986-1987) The pilot-study (Larsson, 1983) and the depreciation study (Erikson, 1986) is completed and published. The simulation model is preliminary accounted for. This work is the account for subproject 2 above. Extent The survey includes 218 farms located all over Sweden. These farms represents 0.6 % of the acreage of arable land and 0.8 % of the machinery capital in Sweden (1985). During 1984-1986 data from 11 509 machine-years were collected. The survey included all field machinery on the farms. Inhouse machinery was not within the aim of the work. The survey was restricted to farms bigger than 20 hectare. The mean acreage was 75.1 hectars. Method At the start of the project a thorough inventory of each farm was done. Information about acreage, crops, workshop equipment, main produce, machine handling etc was registered. In addition to the farm inventory an identity for each field machine was created. Type of machine, make, age, size and equipment was noted. At the end of the years 1984-1986 the participating farmers reported the following for each machine: * The years usage (hectars, hours or tons) * Costs of spare parts (SEK) * Costs for hired help with maintenance work (SEK) * The farmers own maintenance work (hours) * Costs for breakdown insurance (mostly tractors and combines, SEK) All data was stored and processed with the help of computers. Results All results has been derived with computer aid. This is due to the vast material. Computer languages used is SAS (Statistical Analysis System) and MIMER database system. The results is divided into two groups. The first one contains results specific for each type of machinery. The second group contains trends and trend descriptions of the whole material from different viewpoints. Machine specific results For each group of machines three different graphs is presented. Examples of machine groups is combine, harrow, 2WD and 4WD tractors. The first graph shows the maintenance cost as a function of machine age. The graph is an expression of a mathematical function derived on basis of collected data. The assumption is that the maintenance cost is a negative exponential function depending on machine type, machine age and machine replacement value. The replacement value is a description of the machine size and equipment standard. Furthermore, by multiplying the value of the cost equation with the replacement value, effects of inflation are surpressed. The second graph shows mean values of the maintenance cost for different age groups. Compared to the first graph, which is a smooth regression line, this one shows the range of the values in the material. The third graph shows the components of the maintenance cost. Examples of components is cost of workshop and billed costs. Graph no 1 and 3 is for calculations. Graph no 1 gives the total maintenance cost for the machine. With the help of graph no 3 the cost can be divided to different subcosts. Graph no 2 is only for information, not for calculation. Machine specific results is also presented in tables. These tables contains mean values of age, yearly use, maintenance costs (3 different kinds) and the mathematical expressions of graph no 1. Results based on the complete material The following results is based on the complete material as a unity, wagons excepted. The results hints the state of the Swedish farms as a group. The mean age of the machinery has during the years 1984 to 1986 increased from 9.0 to 9.9 years. This mean age exceeds the agricultural engineering consultants recommendations with 50 %. The maintenance cost has increased with 15 % during the same time. The figure is compensated for inflation. This is expected when the mean age increases. The maintenance cost for the northern part of Sweden exceeds the rest of the country with approximately 17 %. Part of the difference can be explained with different type of main produce. Another explanation is the great distances in these parts of Sweden. There is no geographical difference in machine age. Small farms tend to have higher maintenance costs then bigger ones. This is probably due to less effective use of labour and machinery. Big farms have a higher yearly use than small ones. Still, the mean age differs only for farms >100 hectars. These farms have a slightly less mean age than the rest. A conclusion of the results presented above is that the Swedish farm machinery is aging with increased maintenance costs as a result. The most probable explanation is the very tough economical climate for agricultural production. The farmers halt their investment plans to cut costs. Implementation of new technology that economizes production resources and diminish the stress of the environment will thereby be delayed.

Keywords

maskinkostnader; underhållskostnader

Published in

Rapport - Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet, Institutionen för lantbruksteknik
1987,
ISBN: 91-576-3140-9
Publisher: Institutionen för lantbruksteknik, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/125674