Over the last several months you’ve likely seen the worrisome headlines like this:

• "Cash receipts from crop sales in 2025 are expected to decrease...” 
• “The average corn and soybean producer will barely break even...”
• “Zero net income...”

The National Corn Growers Assn. stated, “Corn growers nationwide are in the third consecutive year of net negative returns, with 2026 projected to be the fourth year of negative returns.” 

That’s net income below zero! That is extremely uncomfortable whether we’re talking dollars or degrees F.

I hope you notice these numbers and projections are based on one word: average. Are you an “average” producer, with zero dollars in your pocket after selling the 2025 crop and paying the bills? Or have you cut costs to improve the odds of making money?

Let’s go straight to the bottom line. The “average” no-tiller with cover crops has crop production costs $50 to $60/acre less than a farmer using tillage. Yes, that is how you go from “zero to fifty” in net income. 

Too many farmers dabbled in no-till for a couple of years, yields dropped a little, so they gave up. Unlike several years ago when a 10% drop in corn yield for 2 or 3 years was common, today experienced no-tillers and researchers can lay out a system so there is no yield loss. 

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