How Southern Row-Crop Producers Fared in 2025

By Aaron Smith and Adam Rabinowitz et.al              

Row-crop producers across the South faced another difficult year in 2025. Weather challenges led to wide yield variability across much of the region. Even where yields were strong, low commodity prices and persistently high input costs kept margins tight, leaving many operations near or below breakeven for a third straight year. Shifts in acreage were common, with corn gaining ground at the expense of cotton and, in some areas, soybeans.

Financial stress remains a major concern heading into 2026, as limited storage capacity, tighter credit conditions, and low prices continue to pressure farm profits. To capture conditions across the south, we asked Extension agricultural economists in each state to provide a brief summary of the 2025 season. Their state-by-state perspectives are below.

Alabama – Adam Rabinowitz, Max Runge, and Wendiam Sawadgo, Auburn University

Alabama’s row crop producers faced the wettest May on record statewide, leading to delayed or prevented crop planting across the state. Prevented plantings for upland cotton in 2025 totaled 62,000 acres, above the previous five-year average of 2,000 acres. Across all crops, prevented plantings totaled 122,000 acres, much higher than the 22,000-acre five-year average. Compounding issues during the season were a late drought that suppressed peanut and soybean performance and the cotton jassid (two-spotted leafhopper) that entered Alabama and spread to all cotton-producing parts of the state. Even with these challenges, corn and cotton yields are projected to exceed their five-year averages, whereas peanut and soybean yields are expected to finish near historical norms. Meanwhile, producers, lenders, and agribusinesses remain concerned about the ongoing price squeeze driven by low commodity prices and elevated production costs. For the year ahead, many are questioning the best direction for row crops with no positive change to prices or input costs expected, and the unknown future and impact of the cotton jassid (two-spotted leafhopper).