After a period of high crop prices, US corn and soybean farmers now face challenging economic conditions. This study of Illinois grain farms offers lessons from the last downturn in the farm economy between 2015 and 2018. It reveals that farms with moderate to high levels of working capital at the start of this period performed significantly better, offering crucial lessons as farmers brace for another potential period of market pressure in 2025.

Lower milk prices coupled with slightly lower costs still resulted in positive cash returns but continued negative economic returns for Illinois dairy producers in 2023, according to figures summarized by the Illinois Farm Business Farm Management Association. In 2024, if total economic costs averaged $23 per 100 pounds of milk produced, Illinois producers would have returns below total economic costs by $0.38 per 100 pounds of milk produced.

This farmdoc daily article focuses on the potential spillover effects from increasing used cooking oil biofuel demand on crop oil prices. We lay out the close price relationships between UCO and crop oil markets with a special emphasis on how these price relationships can differ by country and region, and then we conclude by highlighting the importance of better understanding these price dynamics to fully understand the greenhouse gas emission implications of biofuel policies.

Our analysis of the median reported working capital to operating expense ratio across Northern, Central, and Southern Illinois highlights notable regional differences in liquidity trends. Since 2003, Southern Illinois has faced more severe declines in liquidity compared to the other two regions. The most significant decline occurred between 2011 and 2017, where the median reported working capital to operating expense ratio fell from 1.15 (strong) to 0.22 (cautionary), a decline of 80.87%.

Revenue Protection (RP) remains the most popular crop insurance plan used by Illinois farmers to insure their corn, soybean, and wheat acreage.  In 2024, RP was used on 95% of…

According to the 2024 joint survey conducted by the American Bankers Association (ABA) and Farmer Mac, lenders are most concerned about producers’ liquidity and farm income levels (see ABA-Farmer Mac…