The article reveals the economic necessity of allocating variable costs from the costs in agricultural enterprise. The efficiency and expediency of enterprise management using the variable cost method. The behavior of costs in the production enterprise based on the properties of costs, the feasibility of making management decisions based on costing. In article was determined classification of costs, which makes it possible to analyze the break-even point for certain types of products, and to optimize the structure of products produced by the enterprise; determine the critical volume of production in kind and value; set the required amount of sales for profit; calculate the amount of additional orders that can be accepted by the company to ensure profitable work and operate in a self-financing mode, without attracting borrowed funds. The article analyzes the main items of direct costs of agricultural enterprises: raw materials and basic materials, purchased products and semi-finished products, auxiliary materials, basic salaries of production workers with social security contributions, energy resources for technology and more. The main items of indirect costs are production costs, costs for maintenance and operation of equipment, costs of ancillary production, administrative costs and more. These costs relate to each type of product in proportion to the distribution base established at the enterprise. The experience of companies confirms that in order to reduce variable costs, it is necessary to increase labor productivity and reduce costs. Most organizations try to implement the strategy of "scale effect" by using energy-saving methods, reducing goods in warehouses, using new options for managing the production process. The greatest effect is shown by the practice of retraining of workers, as well as the redistribution between individual participants in the process of their production responsibilities. The cost management technology will allow the management of the agricultural enterprise to obtain the necessary justifications for making various management decisions.