According to the National Corn Growers Association, when historical costs to grow corn are indexed to 2025 dollars, there are two historical periods in which costs have been relatively higher than the current 2022 to 2025 period: 1975 to 1985 and 2012 to 2016. In other words, inflation adjusted cost of production for corn has been consistently high since 2012. In that time, market year average corn prices were relatively very low in all but three years (2012, 2021, and 2022).
While NCGA maintains a persistent focus on driving additional sources of demand for U.S. corn in effort to improve the outlook, it is also analyzing input costs that remain near record highs.
For the 1975 to 1985 period, the average annual production cost in 2025 dollars was $1,082 per acre. The median market-year average price of those years was $2.52 per bushel of corn. If those prices were in 2025 dollars the median would be $10.51. While these costs are likely comparative to what some corn growers with higher-than-average production costs are seeing today, it does not seem feasible that the inflation-adjusted price would be offered today anywhere in the country reflecting the weak correlation of corn price and inflation. -source NCGA Press Release
