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Corn profitability remains strong in conservation research

Corn is becoming more profitable in a long-term agricultural research project at Michigan State University.

MSU Extension’s Christine Charles tells Brownfield 2024 was the third year a traditional corn and soybean rotation was compared to a five-crop rotation with a suite of conservation practices.

“That was the first year that we were seeing corn yield more in the aspirational system than the business-as-usual system, and have a higher profit per acre,” she shares. “In soybeans so far, this has been a different story.”

Charles says corn profitability has been higher in the conservation system throughout the study, but soybeans have struggled because of higher residues from no-till and cover crops for the past two seasons.

“Especially in 2024 was a big issue with slugs in no-till across the state, and we definitely saw that in our aspirational system,” she explains. “The expensive manure, more herbicides, and cover crops have made it a little bit more expensive.”

Charles says forage yields and profitability increased year over year in 2024, and while canola yields increased, slugs were still an issue.

Wheat in the trial yielded more than Michigan’s state average and helped increase profit margins for the system.

The difference between profit margins was also cut in half for the two management systems, with less than a $40 per acre spread in 2025.

Charles says researchers and stakeholders will evaluate what an aspiration system should include at the end of the season to start planning for the next five years of the project.