Cash Field Crop Industry Snapshot

USDA Crop Forecast:

Source: USDA WASDE 

• Prices for grains and oilseeds have declined significantly since the 2022/23 crop year, and margins are negative for many cash field producers as market prices are not covering total production costs.
• Corn and soybean prices further weakened last quarter amid trade and tariff standoffs and a record-large South American soybean harvest. China, normally the largest buyer of American soybeans, has stopped imports of oilseeds from the U.S. A weaker U.S. dollar helps export prospects but is not significant enough to offset other bearish market influences
• It was a good growing year for most of the major grain producing areas, leading to a large U.S. crop. However, corn acreage harvested was down in several Northeast states.
• In the Northeast, the spring was wet and planting was late. Summer then brought little to no water on a young crop. With dairies also suffering, they have been calling and trying to buy as much standing corn from the local grain farmers as possible. They are paying by the ton and cover all the harvest costs. With much of the grain corn going to silage this year in the local marketplace many buyers are scrambling trying to get corn for their bins for their feedmills or other sources. Basis on both corn and soybeans have both improved and are above board pricing, which rarely ocurrs. Basis has started to come back down as buyers are bringing in corn from outside the area now to satisfy their needs.  Soybeans will be light but probably better off than corn. In some areas, corn fields dried up and died or have no ears on the plants and most likely little to no nutritional value.
• Most row-crop producers will have trouble cash flowing this year. Their level of financial stress will depend in large part on savings from past harvest years and debt load.
• December 2025 corn futures are trading at $4.22/bu, and November soybean futures at $10.14/bu, as of September 29, 2025.¹   

¹ CBOT Futures