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U of I releases final 2024 crop budget estimates

An ag economist at the University of Illinois says their final 2024 crop budget estimates are in the red.

Gary Schnitkey tells Brownfield they’re projecting trendline yields with a corn price unchanged from January, but soybeans are lower.

“$4.50 for corn and $11.30 for soybeans.”  He says, “We may be a little bit high on both of those prices, but we’ve been dropping those over the year as prices have continued to come down.”

He says farmers are seeing a bit of relief on the expense side of the ledger with some lower input prices, but in historic terms…

“We’ve increased our costs considerably.”  He says, “Prices have come down, commodity prices have come down, and our costs have not come down as much. And so, we’re sitting here with low incomes and low returns.”

Schnitkey says it tightens the budget similar to 2013 and 2014, but he doesn’t see too much financial stress just yet.

“Most farmers have built pretty good financial reserves during those high income years, but still, if we have this year and a year or so more like this, you can see those financial reserves declining.”  He says, “We’re going to have to be making some drastic changes to particularly cash rent.”

He says they’re projecting 2024 net incomes of between $50,000 and $70,000 for an average 1,500-acre Illinois farm.  To compare, Schnitkey says those numbers were over $200,000 in 2021 & 2022.

Schnitkey says current 2025 budget projections are even to a bit lower for both corn and soybeans.  

AUDIO: Gary Schnitkey – ag economist @ U of I – Urbana-Champaign

Photo: Courtesy of FarmDoc