YEAREND: 2026 enterprise budgets ‘a step in the right direction’
Watkins said that “with everything endured in production agriculture, it's been hard to find highlights on a crop budget to share."
By Mary Hightower
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
Dec. 22, 2026
Fast facts
- 2026 Crop Enterprise Budgets available online
- Budgets reflect changes in input, interest costs
(452 words)
JONESBORO, Ark. — The annual crop enterprise budgets created by the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, aren’t just as tool to help farmers manage the crop season to come, they are a mirror of farming’s economic landscape.
Breana Watkins, instructor-crop budgets and conservation economics for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, develops the budgets along with input from Extension Economists and Assistant Professors Hunter Biram and Ryan Loy, and Program Associates Scott Stiles and Evan Ware.
Watkins said that “with everything endured in production agriculture, it's been hard to find highlights on a crop budget to share.
“For input pricing, it appears as though we’ve peaked and softened on things like seed, crop protectants, and interest rates,” she said. “Although the softening hasn't been dramatic, the budgets are beginning to reflect a breakeven situation — which is welcome considering the previous year returns for most crops were negative.
“When compared to the previous year, fuel and fertilizer prices are mixed,” Watkins said. “Equipment costs have continued to increase over the last few years. A new budget for cotton with ThryvOn® technology, was released with this update.”
Watkins said that “soybean prices have been the star of the show.
“In the fall of 2024 — when the 2025 budgets were originally developed — new crop soybeans were being forward contracted at $9.50 per bushel. Peak harvest 2025 cash soybean prices were steadily above $9.50,” she said.
Unlike the last few years when drought dropped the Mississippi River to record lows, stymying shipment of beans for export through New Orleans.
“The Mississippi River cooperated a bit more this harvest allowing river terminals to resume the $0.50-$0.60 per bushel basis on soybeans delivered at harvest,” she said.
“For the upcoming 2026 crop season, the average forward contract price was $10.25 per bushel,” Watkins said.
Operating costs for soybeans have remained steady.
“We removed a second herbicide application later in the season that also helps the budget quite a bit,” she said. “The 2026 crop budgets estimate a return of nearly $145 per acre above operating costs. This doesn’t include covering fixed costs. But the 2025 crop budgets estimated net returns above the operating costs of about $100 per acre.
“Forty-five dollars an acre may not seem like much and it’s not but is a big step in the right direction,” Watkins said.
There are two main versions of each crop budget available based on the user's needs: lease or full budget are the two main options. Crops available are corn, cotton, grain sorghum, peanut, rice, and soybean — based upon irrigation type.
The crop enterprise budgets are developed with the support of the Arkansas Corn & Grain Sorghum Board, the Arkansas Rice Check-Off and the Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board.
Mention of brand names does not imply endorsement by the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
To learn more about the Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website. Follow us on X at @ArkAgResearch, subscribe to the Food, Farms and Forests podcast and sign up for our monthly newsletter, the Arkansas Agricultural Research Report. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit uada.edu. Follow us on X at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit uaex.uada.edu.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on three system campuses.
Pursuant to 7 CFR § 15.3, the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services (including employment) without regard to race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, sexual preference, pregnancy or any other legally protected status, and is an equal opportunity institution.
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Media Contact: Nick Kordsmeier, nkordsme@uark.edu