USDA: Corn growers face rising production costs while crop values swing from year to year

Although average harvest month prices for field corn have varied over time, corn production costs per acre have generally increased over time and with less fluctuation. Other than a decline in 2009, corn's average harvest month price per bushel began rising from 2005 before peaking in 2012. Rising corn prices helped lift the total average gross value of production per acre of corn over most of that period.

A notable exception was in 2012, when despite high corn prices, lower average yields resulted in a decrease in the gross value of production. The gross value of production fell again in 2013, this time on declining prices, as well as in 2014 before leveling off through 2020.

From 2014 to 2020, farmers could not cover their total production costs, on average, though total production costs per acre were relatively stable. In 2022, production costs climbed, primarily in response to a spike in fertilizer prices. Rebounding corn prices offset the effects of higher costs for producers in 2023, with corn producers netting only about $11.60 per acre.

This chart was drawn from the Commodity Costs and Returns data product, developed by USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS) for major U.S. field crops, livestock, and dairy. The data product's estimates, which draw from the ERS and USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service's Agricultural Resource Management Survey, are updated regularly and serve as benchmarks for policy analysis, agricultural research, and business planning.

For more information regarding calculations and the origin of data components, please see the ERS report, Estimating the USDA, Economic Research Service Commodity Costs and Returns and the Milk Cost of Production Estimates Data Series, published in March 2025.