Search our entire resource library

You're viewing a specific archive. Looking for something and want to search by keyword or just take a general look at ALL our resources? Click Search below!

Search

Finances

Farm Finance Lab: Turn Tax Data into Financial Management Insight

The Farm Finance Lab tool helps producers use Schedule F tax data and balance sheets to quickly generate financial ratios measuring profitability, liquidity, solvency, and financial efficiency. Users can upload documents or enter values manually, explore interactive gauges, and test scenario changes to better understand financial performance. The tool is free to use and does not store any user data.

Crop Net Return and Farmland Market, Presentation at Fort Wayne Farm Show

Michael Langemeier presented at the Fort Wayne Farm Show on January 14, 2026, on crop net returns prospects and the farmland market.

Trends in the U.S. Farm Balance Sheet: A New Data Tool for Tracking Financial Strength

In December, the Center for Commercial Agriculture launched Trends in the U.S. Farm Balance Sheet, a new interactive data visualization built on USDA Economic Research Service farm income and wealth statistics. The tool highlights long-run trends in farm assets, debt, and equity—allowing users to explore changes by asset type, debt category, and lender, while also tracking key financial ratios over time. State-level farm real estate values are mapped, and every chart and dataset can be downloaded for further analysis. As balance sheet conditions continue to evolve, this tool provides a clear, data-driven way to monitor financial strength across U.S. agriculture.

The Right Way to Cut Costs

Tight margins often trigger cost-cutting decisions, but not all cuts improve profitability. This article explains how marginal analysis can help producers evaluate fertilizer, seed, and seeding rate decisions to protect returns when prices are low.

Crop Machinery Investment

Machinery investment benchmarks from 2007–2024 show that large crop farms hold a sizable cost advantage. Operations over 2,000 acres consistently invest less per acre—both in machinery ownership and net annual equipment spending—highlighting meaningful economies of scale. Understanding where your farm fits can help guide machinery planning and long-term cost management.

Machinery Cost Benchmarks for Corn & Soybeans

Benchmark machinery costs for corn and soybean farms and see how expenses differ by farm size and net return category. The article also reviews long-term machinery cost trends from 2007–2024 to help producers assess scale efficiencies and compare their own costs to industry benchmarks.

Indiana Farm Income Outlook Report, Fall 2025

The Fall 2025 Indiana Farm Income Outlook, published by the Rural and Farm Finance Policy Analysis Center (RaFF),  provides updated projections for Indiana farm profitability through 2026.

2026 Crop Cost and Return Guide

The 2026 Purdue Crop Cost and Return Guide provides estimated costs and net returns for planting, growing, and harvesting corn, soybeans, and wheat in the upcoming year. Cost and return information presents information for low, average, and high productivity soils. Early projections point to slightly higher breakeven prices.

Projected Net Income per Acre for West Central Indiana Case Farm

For a state such as Indiana, which is heavily reliant on corn and soybean receipts, the latest USDA-ERS net farm income forecast seems counter-intuitive. After two strong net farm income years in 2021 and 2022, net farm income has been below average for crop farms. Current projections for 2025 and 2026 suggest that net farm income will remain below average through at least 2026.

Financial Stress on Crop Farms: Who Is Most at Risk in the 2024–26 Downturn?

Midwest crop producers have experienced a significant downturn in corn, soybean, and wheat prices since late 2023, resulting in a drop in net returns in 2024. Moreover, current expectations are that prices will continue to remain at or below the cost of production for at least a couple more years. Consequently, a key question being asked is as follows: “Who is the most vulnerable financially during this downturn”?

Load More