SD's 2025 Corn Harvest: Yields and Input Costs Up, Price Per Bushel Down

By Jackson Dircks

With fall comes corn harvest season, and the USDA is projecting one of the largest corn yields in US history.

In September, the USDA said 2025 will have the most acreage harvested in 92 years, and projected a record crop output as a result.

Reuters reports that could affect the farm economy, as the cash crop receipts adjusted for inflation are forecast at the lowest level in nearly two decades. The latest data from October hasn't come out from the USDA due to the federal government shutdown.

A peek at some producers in Eastern South Dakota
SDPB’s Jackson Dircks spent the day with farmers near Bridgewater as they hurried to empty the fields in hopes of filling their pockets.

Ross Glanzer walked on his land in Bridgewater, with cornhusks from already-combined land crunching beneath him. Glanzer raises corn and soybeans and runs a cow-calf operation. He said it's been a good harvest for his corn and beans, despite some hail and wind damage. However, as he looks to sell the crop, prices aren’t where he’d like…“We’d love to see a four in front of it,” Glanzer said. “We’re a ways away from that on what we’re delivering right now.”

It’s hard to know what to expect when planting in the Spring, and this year was no different. With tariffs placed by the Trump administration having been the focal point for producers, Glanzer said a lot is chalked up to risk management.