Mixed Signals for 2025: USDA Reports Show Strong Crops, High Costs
Two new USDA reports are painting a mixed picture for 2025 — strong crops on one hand, but high costs and tight margins on the other.
The World Agricultural Supply and Demand Report brings the first field-based yield projections for the 2025/26 crop year. Rice production is pegged at 208.5 million hundredweights, thanks to more acres harvested, with prices up to $14.20 per hundredweight. Cotton output is down sharply to 13.2 million bales, lifting the price to 64 cents a pound. Sugar supplies are higher on more beet production and bigger beginning stocks, pushing the stocks-to-use ratio to 17.75%.
Meanwhile, the Farm Production Expenditures report shows 2024 U.S. farm costs at $477.6 billion — just under last year’s record, but still more than 30% higher than five years ago. California tops the list at $48.6 billion, reflecting the high costs of specialty crop production, labor, and irrigation.
For Market Intel on both reports from the American Farm Bureau, visit https://www.fb.org/market-intel/wasde-robust-crops-high-input-costs-strained-margins
