A letter sent by the National Corn Grower Assn. (NCGA) to three federal department heads earlier this month spells out the financial challenges many farmers are facing this year and why unraveling trade uncertainties should be a priority.
NCGA asked the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick for more urgent action to remove trade uncertainty as growers head toward another harvest this fall.
Input prices continue to be a chief concern. Here’s what they shared:
- The current forecast for 2025 shows fertilizer alone accounting for 36% of a corn farmer’s operating cost.
- A recent NCGA report shows phosphates have seen a dramatic increase of more than 60% over the past decade Retail prices for monoammonium phosphate (MAP) are 9% higher and diammonium phosphate (DAP) 10% higher already in 2025.
- Retail prices for UAN-32 have increased 37% since the beginning of the year.
- Corn prices are extremely low, dropping by 14% from the beginning of this year and 50% since 2022
“Unfortunately,” the NCGA said in the Aug. 1 letter, “the combination of the low corn prices, trade uncertainty and consistently high costs for fertilizers and inputs, including relevant countervailing duties, have resulted in a calamitous environment for farmers who are trying to plan for harvest and next season.”
In fact, high input costs exceed grain revenue by more than $100 an acre in 2025 after several years of sustained high prices for fertilizers and inputs — which means negative profit margins for farmers across the U.S., the NCGA said.
These challenges are not new, but their timing and severity seem much worse than usual. While lawmakers, lobbyists and regulators duke it out in D.C., about the only thing you can control is your own management decisions.
The tools are already there to help us raise crops and livestock more efficiently:
* No-till and strip-till: Reducing or eliminating tillage will improve soil health and nutrient efficiency, as well as reduce fuel, labor and equipment costs. Nearly all those savings go straight to the bottom line.
* Precision technology: RTK, drone imagery, field mapping, AI-powered software and more can help you place fertilizer, nutrients and pest control products more accurately, and at the right time and location. If you haven’t maximized precision farming on your operation, it’s time to do so.
* Cover crops: How can you raise healthy, consistent crops when soil — the main resource under your control — is washing away? How will its condition ever improve if you never invest in soil health and put something back into the soil bank? Use cover crops as a force multiplier to keep topsoil on your farm, boost soil biology and improve the chance of having more resilient crops. And if you have livestock, graze covers or rent your fields out for grazing and bring in extra income.
Due to competition and the reality of crop prices today, the old model of sending cheap grain all over the world may fall like a house of cards one day. If it does, do you want to be begging the government for a solution?
Farmers have all the technology, plant traits and data to produce crops more efficiently with reduced inputs. Pop the toolbox open and use what’s there to fix the holes in your management system.
