Higher fuel prices, machinery and interest costs have increased the machinery costs in the newly released University of Illinois Extension 2006 Machinery Cost Estimates study. It is available on Extension's farmdoc website, www.farmdoc.uiuc.edu. The study uses $2.50 for its diesel fuel price, and 7.5% as its interest rate.

The estimates are useful guidelines for farm operators in determining what to charge for custom farming operations. Estimated costs for most operations are higher in 2006 than in 2005, the last time machinery costs were estimated.