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ISU estimate: Corn production costs to rise 4%, soybeans 2%
Many Iowa farmers can expect to pay slightly more to plant, maintain, and harvest a crop in the year ahead, according to a new report from Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.
Ann Johanns, an ag decision maker program specialist with the extension, says producers will face tight margins in the 2026 growing season.
“So, on corn production, overall, it was about 4% higher than last year, and then the soybean total costs were about 2% higher, and it ranged within the different categories,” Johanns says. “Labor was just a little bit higher at 1%, and then machinery costs were around 3% to 4%, depending on kind of what type it was.”
The extension’s report, called Estimated Costs of Crop Production in Iowa 2026, takes into account that average market prices for corn and soybeans are projected to stay below production costs, making for a challenging situation. On the plus side, Johanns says the projected land costs came down slightly.
“We take data from the cash rent survey that Iowa State does every spring, and then, we take input from our specialists and people that we survey for the estimated cash crop production and take that all into account,” Johanns says. “They did all project a slight decrease in the land costs that we use, and of course, every farm operation is going to be different.”
Johanns says opportunities for profit are expected to be limited this coming year, underscoring the importance of careful cost tracking and farm-specific planning, which is where the extension can help farmers to plan.
“We have corn and soybean budgets, but there’s a low till budget, there’s a strip till budget, and so they can look at multiple types of production,” Johanns says. “There’s also some budgets in there for hay, for alfalfa ground, there’s choices within these budgets, so we have some tools online to help people do the calculations themselves.”
Johanns says the report’s figures should be used as planning benchmarks, not exact estimates for individual farms, adding that farm-level cost data is vital information for producers to track.
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