September 17, 2026
2027 Crop Cost & Return Guide
September 2026 Estimates
What could 2027 crop costs and returns look like?
The first 2027 Purdue crop budget provides a starting point for evaluating expected crop costs, revenues and returns for the coming production year.
The 2027 Purdue Crop Cost & Return Guide includes estimated budgets for continuous corn, rotation corn, rotation soybeans, wheat and double-crop soybeans across low, average and high productivity Indiana soils. The estimates include expected yields, crop prices, variable costs and contribution margins.
Build a 2027 Crop Budget for Your Farm
The accompanying 2027 crop budget spreadsheet allows farmers to work with the Purdue estimates and adjust key assumptions for their own operation.
Farmers can enter their own expected yields, crop prices and variable and overhead costs to see how changes affect projected crop returns.
The spreadsheet is designed to be used alongside the Purdue crop budget rather than as a one-time calculation. As market conditions, input prices and individual farm expectations change, farmers can update the assumptions and revisit their 2027 crop budget.
2027 Crop Price and Cost Estimates
The September 2026 estimates use expected 2027 input prices and harvest price assumptions based on opening CME Group prices on September 15, 2026, less specified basis assumptions. Note that these prices will change and that input prices can vary by location and time of year.
This is the first 2027 crop budget update from Purdue. Additional updates will be made as the season approaches, giving farmers an opportunity to revisit their crop costs and return expectations as market and input price conditions change.
Prepared by Michael R. Langemeier, Department of Agricultural Economics; Shaun Casteel and Dan Quinn, Department of Agronomy; and Tommy Butz, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Purdue University.
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