Why Measuring Input Efficiency Should Be a Top Priority for Every Farm
- Joshua Brock
- Oct 7
- 6 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
This is the third in a series of articles expanding on the original, “From Seed to Success: How KPIs Can Transform Your Market Garden”. With each article in the “Farm KPIs” series, we dive deeper into a specific metric (crops, livestock, financial, etc.) by defining what it is, why it’s important, how to track it, and how to put the data into practical use.
The other articles in the series include:
For many of us farmers, the day-to-day work is filled with immediate challenges — planting, irrigation, feeding livestock, repairing equipment, managing labor, and keeping up with market demands. It’s often too easy to focus on what’s directly in front of us and put off the deeper tracking of how our farm’s inputs translate into outputs and the bottom line. But for any farm — whether you’re new to the fields or have decades of dirt under your fingernails — measuring input efficiency can be the difference between a season that’s simply busy and one that’s truly profitable.
Before diving in, let’s take a look at the topics we’ll be covering in this article;
What Do We Mean by “Input Efficiency”?
At its simplest, input efficiency is about understanding how much you’re getting out of what you put in. Inputs can include seeds, feed, fertilizer, water, labor hours, machinery use, or even energy costs. When we talk about efficiency, we’re really asking:
“For every unit of input, how much productive output am I getting?”
For example, in crop production, you might measure how many bushels of corn you harvest per pound of seed and per pound of fertilizer applied.
In livestock, you could look at feed conversion ratios — how many pounds of feed it takes for an animal to gain a pound of body weight. Both provide a clear picture of whether your resources are being utilized in the most effective way possible.
Why Input Efficiency Matters
Farming has always been about margins — both physical and financial. With rising costs for feed, fertilizer, fuel, and labor, even a small improvement in efficiency can have a big impact on your bottom line. Tracking input efficiency helps you:
Spot waste before it grows costly – If your fertilizer application rates are high but yields are stagnant, that’s money literally left in the soil.
Make informed decisions – Should you invest in higher-quality seed? Is it worth automating part of your irrigation system? The numbers will tell you.
Adapt faster to market changes – When input prices spike, knowing exactly where you can trim without hurting productivity is invaluable.
How Farmbrite Can Help
Farmbrite’s Inventory and Accounting features allow you to record all pertinent information regarding your farm inputs or amendments purchased and used throughout the growing season. This includes all relevant details such as the vendor it was purchased from, price, amount/volume, lot tracking information, just to name a few items you can track. You can also upload photos of the receipts as proof of purchase to provide during your annual inspection and farm record keeping.
Input Efficiency Across Farm Types
Row Crop Farms: By tracking seed rates against yield, you might find that slightly lowering seed density in certain fields maintains yield but reduces seed costs by thousands of dollars over a season.
Livestock Operations: Monitoring livestock feed conversion ratios can reveal that certain feed mixes deliver faster weight gain, cutting days to market and lowering feed costs overall.
Specialty Crop Farms: Comparing water usage per pound of produce harvested can highlight opportunities to adjust irrigation schedules and save both water and energy.
Common Benchmark Examples
Here’s a set of common benchmark ranges you can use as a starting point — but keep in mind these vary a lot by region, variety/breed, management style, and environmental conditions.
Crop Input Efficiency Benchmarks
(All values are typical averages; high-performing farms may exceed them)
Livestock Input Efficiency Benchmarks
Why do these benchmarks matter? They give you a reality check — if you’re far outside the range, it’s a signal to investigate feed quality, genetics, management practices, or environmental stressors. But these are NOT absolutes; high input costs or unique local conditions can make a slightly “less efficient” number still profitable.
Turning Data into Action
Measuring input efficiency isn’t just about collecting numbers — it’s about turning those numbers into better decisions. This requires consistent recordkeeping, benchmarking, and experimentation. Collecting numbers is only the first step. The real value of measuring input efficiency lies in what you do with the information. Data by itself is just a record of what has already happened; action is what transforms those records into better decisions, higher profits, and stronger resilience for your farm.
The first key is consistency. Tracking efficiency isn’t something that works if it’s only done once or twice a season. Inputs and outputs vary day to day — weather shifts, feed batches differ, and even the same variety of seed can perform differently in one field compared to another.
By keeping steady, consistent records, you start to see patterns that short-term observation might miss. For example, you might notice that a certain fertilizer blend consistently performs better in fields with lighter soils, or that your broilers gain weight faster when feed is split into smaller, more frequent rations. Without ongoing records, those insights would remain hidden.
The second piece is benchmarking. A number on its own doesn’t mean much. If you record that your corn yielded 1.0 bushels per pound of nitrogen, is that good? Average? Poor? Comparing your yield numbers to both your own past seasons and to regional benchmarks helps you put them in context. If your numbers are below average, it’s a signal to dig deeper; if they’re above average, it tells you that something is working well — and worth repeating or expanding.
How Farmbrite Can Help
Farmbrite’s extensive assortment of Reports for livestock, plantings, equipment, accounting, and many more includes a wide variety of pre-built reports, but also allows you to generate your own custom ones to best suit your needs. Take a deeper look at a handful of our highlighted reports, including:
The third step is experimentation with purpose. Farmers are natural problem-solvers, and testing new ideas is part of the job. But without measuring input efficiency, those experiments can be a gamble. Data-driven experimentation means making small, controlled changes — adjusting seeding rates on a single field, trialing a new feed ration in one pen, or testing different irrigation schedules on a few rows. By tracking the results carefully, you can scale up only the practices that clearly improve efficiency and profitability, reducing risk and increasing confidence in your decisions.
Finally, closing the loop is essential. Input efficiency data isn’t meant to sit in a notebook or spreadsheet. Bring it into your planning meetings, budget discussions, and even marketing strategies. If you can demonstrate that your farm uses water more efficiently than the regional average, that may be a selling point for eco-conscious buyers. If you know your feed conversion ratios are trending better than last year, you can more confidently plan herd growth or negotiate prices with suppliers.
In short, turning data into action is about moving from “what happened” to “what’s next.” Input efficiency metrics provide a map, but it’s the decisions you make — guided by that map — that move your farm forward.
The Ripple Effect
Improving input efficiency doesn’t just benefit your wallet. Using fewer inputs for the same (or better) output often reduces environmental impact — resulting in less fertilizer runoff, lower energy use, and more sustainable resource utilization. This can also improve your farm’s reputation with customers, buyers, and even regulators.
In farming, success is never about one single factor — it’s a web of interdependent choices. But if there’s one metric that deserves constant attention, it’s how efficiently your farm turns resources into results. Whether you grow row crops, raise livestock, or cultivate specialty produce, tracking and improving input efficiency is one of the most direct ways to safeguard profitability, reduce waste, and build a more resilient farm for the future.
Start small, track everything, and look for ways to do more with less. With time and attention, you’ll find what works—and you’ll be better positioned to grow a farm that lasts.
To get you started, we invite you to download and use this template to get you started. If you’re looking for a complete farm management system, we invite you to give Farmbrite a try for free for 14 days. If you have any questions, you can always reach out to us - we’re here to help!
Joshua, his wife Jenn, and their dog Rooster, live in PA. Joshua is the owner and operator of Hoffman Appalachian Farm where they grow Certified Naturally Grown hops. Joshua has over twelve years of experience in growing crops, including growing in an organic system. In his spare time he enjoys trail running, backpacking, and cycling.