Brazil’s expansion in corn production over the last decade has made the country a more important competitor in global markets, increasing competitive pressure for US producers. Although the US remains the world’s largest corn producer by a wide margin, Brazil has become a more prominent competitor mainly due to the growth of second-crop corn planted after soybeans. Using standardized economic data, this article compares corn production costs and returns in the US and Brazil from 2020 to 2024.

Total economic returns in 2025 for Illinois beef feeding enterprises exceeded total costs by $35.98 per 100 pounds of beef produced in preliminary findings for farms enrolled in Illinois Farm Business Farm Management. The 2025 returns were higher than the 2024 total returns above feed costs of $17.30 per 100 pounds produced. Total returns have exceeded total economic costs in five out of the last ten years.

In this article, we update estimates for the 2025 Agricultural Risk Coverage and Price Coverage Loss payments per base acre for corn, soybean and wheat. These payments are scheduled to be received in October 2026. Recently released NASS county yields and Market Year Average (MYA) price estimates from the May 12 WASDE report are used in a simulation model to estimate 2025 payments. Across the U.S., estimated payments average $58 per base acre for corn, $29 for soybeans, and $47 for wheat.

The USDA recently released its first official World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) for the 2026/27 soybean marketing year on May 12. The report was neutral to slightly bullish…

US corn and soybean yields reached record levels in 2025 while the US winter wheat yield was second only to the yield in 2016. Following the typical pattern, corn and soybean yields were highest in the main Corn Belt region with lower yields estimated in counties in surrounding areas. Wheat yields are also high in the Midwest but yields in the primary production regions ranged from above average in the Pacific Northwest and eastern Kansas to below average in most of Oklahoma, Texas, and Colorado.

The analysis presented in this article frames the central question facing the biomass-based diesel sector and obligated parties under the EPA’s final Set 2 rule: How will the market deliver an unprecedented increase in D4 RIN generation in 2026 and 2027? The required monthly pace of D4 RIN net generation must rise from 592 million gallons in 2025 to 916 million gallons in 2026 and 991 million gallons in 2027—levels that exceed any sustained monthly pace in the historical record.