2024 crop economics: slightly improved vs. 2023 but weaker for USA and Canadian farms
Overall economics of crop farms were characterized by mostly flat wheat farm gate prices and even slight improvement in rapeseed on the one hand and a further downward trend in corn and soybeans. Furthermore, the vast majority of typical farms benefited from again lower fertilizer prices. In 2024, season-average nitrogen prices were in the range of 1.30 USD/kg N, which is still about 50% higher than in the pre-crisis year 2020. These framework conditions have led to slight improvements of overall economics of many European farms, while in the USA and Canada the results were mostly lower than before. Farms in Brazil and Argentina - despite being affected by lower output prices – _benefited from lower land rents. The economics of crop production in the Ukraine improved drastically because the extreme low output prices in 2023 rebounded to prices slightly below EU levels. Nitrogen prices normalized similarly.
Since corn and soybean prices are likely to be lower in 2025 than in 2024 and nitrogen prices are likely to be stable, for the current season we expect an ongoing bearish situation in the USA; typical farms in Latin America will be under pressure too. Contrarily, due to more stable price projections for wheat and rapeseed, economic outcomes on European farms are likely to stay flat. “In general, we anticipate lower margins than before the price spike due to the sharp increase in machinery cost in recent years,” _Yelto Zimmer, coordinator of agri benchmark Cash Crop, states „This will fuel discussions about the use of contractor services and shared machinery ownership.”
Argentine crop production – a key strength is low-cost contractor services
The Argentine agri benchmark partner Christian Bengtsson (Bedrock) demonstrated that one of the key economic strengths of the farming system in his country is the predominant use of rather low-cost contractor services. Contractors can offer low rates primarily because annual machine run times are up to three times higher than even at bigger farms Press Release 25 April 2025 in the USA or Germany. For example, combines usually run up to more than 3,000 hectares per year. Of course, the double cropping system in Argentina helps expand machinery usage. Accordingly, depreciation and interest cost per hectare are much lower than elsewhere.
The other driver for high profits – despite export tariffs – _are relatively low land rents, which float according to commodity prices. And finally, Christian stated, “Argentina is blessed with very fertile soils, which require rather less mineral fertilization than in other parts of the world.”
Long-term profitability of crop farming: rather mixed picture
According to Danilo Menegatti (agri benchmark Center) the long-term trend in the overall profitability of global crop production shows strong ups and downs and rather diverse outcomes: Typical farms in Ukraine, Poland, Argentina, Brazil, Australia and the UK were able to raise their return to land (gross revenue minus total cost, plus land cost and direct payments) by up to more than 100% in 2024. Their peers in the USA, Canada, some Western European countries (mainly France and Denmark) achieved a return to land lower than ten years back. However, during the price spikes in 2021/22, all crop farms realized an extraordinarily high return to land.
To fully assess the economics of crop production, one has to consider the evolution of land rents; for most of the typical farms they rose. What is decisive is the responsiveness of tenure systems: Farms in Argentina and Brazil, in particular, benefited a lot from adjustments of land rents based on commodity prices. The US system is also somewhat more flexible than those in Western Europe or Canada, which are inflexible in the short run. However, so far, the adjustments in the USA were not strong enough to compensate for lower return to land figures. More rigid land rent systems lead to a rather unfavorable economic situation for growers.
Revitalization of land is key – careful with yield-compromising extensification
Michael Wironen from Nature Conservancy stated that foregoing crop output in order to reduce the environmental footprint should be the last option since one way or the other global demand for food and fiber needs to be met – _most often by land use change. And land use change is by far the biggest driver for GHG emissions from crop production. According to Michael, one very relevant example for sustainable intensification is the revitalization of degraded land in Brazil. Looking forward, he called for an improved understanding of the mechanics and economics of more sustainable crop production systems and the identification of yield gaps. As Michael Wironen points out, “I have the impression that agri benchmark is well positioned to provide important data and key expertise to respective discussions.”
Nitrogen use efficiency – _the driver for GHG balance in wheat
Theresa Brandes (agri benchmark Center) demonstrated that nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is the key driver for the overall GHG balance in wheat production – _the higher the NUE for the typical farms, the lower the GHG balance in wheat (see graph). The NUE figure is the share of N-input that is removed from the field through harvesting of crops (and by-products, if any). Therefore, Theresa urged the network to explore options to improve NUE. As a first step, real farm data from agri benchmark partners in Poland, the UK and Sweden will be analyzed.
Figure 1: Increased NUE leads to lower CO2eq emissions per t wheat
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22th March 2021:
Towards a Global Monitoring of Fertilizer Usage in Crop Production
Today, the International Fertilizer Association (IFA) and agri benchmark Cash Crop announced the start of a joint project. Its aim is to make the use of fertilizers in global crop production transparent to the public and to all stakeholders.
Fertilizer use in crop production is a very topical issue: on the one hand it is the cornerstone for improved crop growth and hence an important part of global food security. On the other hand, the inefficient use of fertilizers can contribute to environmental issues globally.
For IFA’s Chief Scientist Achim Dobermann “it is key to develop a better understanding of actual global fertilizer use. A solid baseline provides the foundation for developing interventions and it is necessary for measuring how well these interventions are performing to improve and sustainably expand the use of fertilizers across the world.”
Therefore, the project will deliver the following key outputs:
The current project will initially look at seven countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa and will be completed in March of 2022. However, provided this pilot phase generates the expected outcome, both parties will continue working together on a global roll out.
Yelto Zimmer, who is coordinating the agri benchmark network at the Thünen Institute says: “We will work very closely with our national crop production economists to identify major differences in fertilization strategies in the countries of interest. Based on regional statistics, national estimates will be generated. With this project, agri benchmark will be able to broaden its global data on crop production economics data."
For further information, please reach out to IFA Policy Analyst Samy Beltaief (
agruere@fertilizer.org) or Travis Jansen (travis.jansen@agribenchmark.net) who is the project manager at the agri benchmark Center.
The International Fertilizer Association (IFA) promotes the efficient and responsible production, distribution and use of plant nutrients to enable sustainable agricultural systems that contribute to a world free of hunger and malnutrition. IFA is the only global fertilizer association with a membership of more than 470 entities, encompassing all actors in the fertilizer value chain from producers through traders and distributors, as well as service providers, advisors, research organizations and NGOs. 
www.fertilizer.org
agri benchmark Cash Crop is a non-profit global network of agricultural economists, coordinated by the German Thünen Institute and the non-profit company global networks. Its aim is to generate and disseminate reliable and usable analyses of major trends in global crop production for decision makers. For more information, please visit www.agribenchmark.org.
Press Release (German):
Auf dem Weg zu einem globalen Monitoring des Düngemitteleinsatzes