The July 28, 2026, special edition of the Closing Market Report features an economic outlook for Midwestern row crop farmers presented by University of Illinois agricultural economist Gary Schnitkey. Schnitkey highlights a sustained cost-price squeeze resulting from commodity prices returning to long-run plateaus while input costs remain elevated following their 2022 peaks. This dynamic is projected to cause negative per-acre returns for the 2026 crop year, though ad hoc government payments continue to buffer overall financial losses. Looking ahead to 2027, Schnitkey warns that the ongoing conflict in Iran will likely exacerbate these financial pressures by driving up critical input costs, particularly for diesel fuel and fertilizer.<br><br>★ Support this podcast ★

Jul 28 | Closing Market Report

Closing Market Report

From the Land-Grant University in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, this is the Closing Market Report for the 28th day of July 2026. I'm Illinois Extension's Todd Gleason. Coming up, a special edition of our program. We'll hear excerpts of a presentation Gary Schnitke, agricultural economist at the University of Illinois, made to the farm legacy attendees in northern Illinois at the end of the month.

He'll put profits and losses on the farms into an historical context and then turn his attention to the Iran conflict and the impact it's been having on agriculture, particularly row crop farms across the state of Illinois and for that matter throughout the Midwest. You'll want to stay with us for this Tuesday edition of the Closing Market Report from Illinois Public Media.

This is public radio for the farming world, online on demand at willag.org. That's willag.org. Todd Gleason's services are made available to WILL by University of Illinois Extension. University of Illinois Agricultural Economist Gary Schnitke in June made a presentation outlining three driving forces in row crop corn and soybean agriculture.

During it, he put the war in Iran into context of its probable impacts on agriculture and laid out how he sees money flow from the federal government into the heartland impacting cash rents. But before all of that, he started with a short history of prices. He put a chart on the screen and picked up with the development of the ethanol industry. I'm going to start here with just where prices have been.

You're looking at a chart of corn and soybean prices. These go back to 1990. And these are national cash prices. Illinois prices are pretty close to these, sometimes a little bit higher in northern Illinois.

Jul 28 | Closing Market Report

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.

Jul 28 | Closing Market Report

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast, not the earnings call.

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.