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How Much Profit Margin Per Acre of Corn Can a Farmer Make?

Profit Per Acre of Corn Farm

Having considered all variables, experts have come to the conclusion that farms averaged $673 total revenue per acre and averaged $664 total cost per acre.

The breakeven price for corn at a yield level of 200 bushels per acre is $3.23 per bushel. At 180 bushels per acre, it is $3.58 per bushel. At 160 bushels per acre, it is $4.03. Corn has been grown across the United States and other parts of the world for hundreds of decades.

Corn is seen as a staple in the average family diet. Nearly 30,000 kernels of corn are planted per planted acre, and corn yields can be close to 200 bushels per acre in a good year on high CSR land.

The USDA pegged the U.S. corn yield at 168.4 bushels per acre vs. the average trade estimate of 167.5 bu./acre and its previous estimate of 168.2. The governmental agency estimated corn production at 13.77 billion bushels vs. the avg. trade estimate of 13.68 billion and its previous estimate of 13.7 billion.

Because of industrial, seed, planting, and other kinds of modifications, what used to take days to plant can now be done in minutes.

While advancements in technology make producing corn more efficient, there are still commodity markets that must be contended with to make the industry more profitable. In recent years, corn profits have been significantly more volatile than in years past, thus affecting the income of farmers per acre.

During the prolonged and excessive rainfall that fell on a good portion of the U.S. in 2018, the Southeast, portions of Iowa, and the Upper Midwest had more than 60 inches of rainfall, resulting in increased abandonment rates and many unharvested acres of corn.

But despite this volatility, corn farmers are still making some good profit from their corn farms, depending on the yield of that year. If you thinking of going into the corn farming business and are worried about what your income would look like, or you are just plain curious, we would try to provide an estimate of the profit that can be had per acre of farmed corn.

How Much Profit Per Acre of Corn Can a Farmer Make Yearly?

Having considered all variables, experts have come to the conclusion that farms averaged $673 total revenue per acre and averaged $664 total cost per acre. The breakeven price for corn at a yield level of 200 bushels per acre is $3.23 per bushel. At 180 bushels per acre, it is $3.58 per bushel. At 160 bushels per acre, it is $4.03.

  • The most profitable farm made $275 per acre while the least profitable lost $222 per acre from planted corn.
  • Projected returns range from $13.50 per acre for dryland corn to $194.55 per acre for irrigated corn.

The largest proportion of costs involved in corn farming is land, fertilizer, and fixed and variable equipment. All these serve to influence what a farmer can make from an acre of corn.

The average cost per acre has been $238 (minimum = $215 during 1995; maximum = $260 during 1992). In the livestock corn division, the average cost per acre is $206 (minimum = $186 during 1993; maximum = $235 during 1987).

The average cost per bushel has been between $1.25 and $1.95 in the cash corn division and $1.13 and $1.81 in the livestock corn division.

This might not be much, but with crop insurance and if you out in all the required inputs, you might break even from your corn farm. Farmers need to manage nutrients and pesticides carefully to avoid adverse effects on the environment and to reduce the costs of purchased inputs.

But farmers also must maintain a production level that will result in profitable returns. How many farmers know what their inputs are, let alone their costs per acre or per bushel? It is hard to trim costs so you can make a better profit if you don’t know your inputs. It is difficult to predict corn-production economics.

However, a grower generally has more control over the cost of production than price. In a year with low-corn-price predictions, every input must be reviewed to lower the cost of production. And in some years, growing corn may not be the best option.