U.S. farmers are likely staring down another year in the red, faced with a familiar cycle: rising costs and weakening markets.
After years of strong grain prices between 2021 and 2023, growing corn and soybeans is no longer profitable — a trend likely to continue and one that farm groups warn could spark a financial crisis for farmers.
For corn, the average total cost of producing an acre jumped 26% between 2021 and 2022, peaking at a record $928. Costs eased slightly to $888 per acre in 2024, while the average value of production slipped to $757 — leaving farmers with a $131 loss per acre.
USDA FORECAST data for 2025 and 2026 shows that the cost of production for corn is projected to keep going up, with farmers expected to spend an average of $915 to grow an acre of corn in 2026 — up from $897 this year. The USDA also lowered the projected average price for 2025 from $4.20 for a bushel of corn to $3.90.
Between 2021 and 2023, average corn and soybean prices stayed high, exceeding production costs. Economists at the University of Illinois and Ohio State University point to several factors: China rebuilding its swine herd in 2020, the Russia-Ukraine war disrupting European supplies and driving uncertainty, and weak harvests in South America and the U.S.
THE CURRENT slump isn’t unprecedented: from 2014 to 2020, average corn prices also fell below production costs. But farm groups and lawmakers warn the current downturn is especially concerning.
With the combined issues of last year’s corn and soybean crops still sitting in storage, uncertainty from the U.S.-China tariff war, no new farm bill in place, and federal relief from the new “Big Beautiful Bill” delayed until October 2026, farmers face an especially tough stretch ahead.
The National Corn Growers Association has sounded the alarm about “the economic crisis hitting rural America,” while the American Soybean Association warned in a letter to Trump that “U.S. soybean farmers are standing at a trade and financial precipice.”
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