Morton, Illinois | Nov. 10, 2026, 1:34 p.m. ET | 4 min read

America’s farmers are bringing in a plentiful harvest. What many aren’t bringing in is much profit.

As the 2026 harvest winds down, rising production costs and inadequate crop prices are eating into farmers’ income, particularly among Midwest corn and soybean growers, even with a potential record in government subsidies.

For consumers, weary of sticky, persistent inflation, the horizon is a bit brighter: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) early forecast predicts grocery prices will rise just 1% next year, the smallest annual increase since 2019.

There’s “an affordability squeeze on the consumer end in terms of prices going up … but also at the farm,” says David Ortega , food economist and professor at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. “You have input costs, right? This is really squeezing producers, especially crop farmers.”

Here in the Midwest, farmers have largely finished a bin-buster harvest.…