Our analysis of Illinois grain farms’ working capital to gross farm returns ratios reveals substantial improvements in farm liquidity over the past two decades. Despite experiencing a decline between 2014 and 2019, the median ratio has shown resilience, progressing from a cautionary level of 0.2212 in 2003 to a strong level of 0.7134 in 2023. Overall, this trend reflects both structural changes in farm balance sheets and the impact of market conditions on the liquidity of Illinois grain farms.

Average swine feed costs in 2024 were substantially lower than feed costs in 2022 and 2023. Moreover, a further reduction in feed costs is expected for the upcoming year. Current projections use corn prices ranging from $4.00 to $4.25 per bushel, and soybean meal prices ranging from $275 to $325 per ton. Each $0.10 per bushel change in corn price, changes feed cost by $0.43 per cwt. Similarly, each $10 per ton change in soybean meal price, changes feed cost by $0.37 per cwt.

Using results from the eleventh wave of the GFAPS, we find that when asked what issue area was most important to them during the election, about 60% of participants who voted for Trump selected either cost of living/inflation (33.0%) or the economy more generally (27.8%). These two areas were also important for participants who voted for other candidates, but at lower rates. Our results underscore the importance of high prices, especially food prices, in the 2024 presidential election.

As Ukraine is entering another winter season in this war, any additional loss of cropland will be detrimental to its grain production capacity, and any further declines in yields (weather or input-related) can significantly jeopardize the country’s grain production. Despite significant losses in production and infrastructure, efforts to secure export routes, improve yields, and adapt to market conditions have enabled the country to maintain a presence in the global corn and wheat markets.

The 2025 Crop Insurance Decision Tool has been released to aid in crop insurance decisions. It provides farmer-paid premiums for different federally regulated policies administered through the Risk Management Agency. Using 2024 projected prices and volatilities, farmer-paid premiums for most policies would be similar to last year, except those related to the Enhanced Coverage Option (ECO). ECO’s premiums will be lower because of an increase in premium support.

This is the third of three articles exploring precision agriculture and its current and future impacts. The first article reviewed the path of precision agriculture over the last three decades…