Corn Growers Alarmed by New Supply Projections

January 13, 2026

The U.S. Department of Agriculture today released its World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimate projecting a 17-billion-bushel corn supply in 2025-2026, raising alarms among the nation’s corn growers and triggering an immediate market reaction. 

If the projections prove accurate, this year’s crop will be the largest on record by far. 

The surplus supply promises to keep corn prices low as farmers struggle to pay high input costs.

“We need long-term market solutions, and we need them quickly, or this is going to deepen the economic crisis in the countryside,” said Ohio farmer and NCGA President Jed Bower. “The urgency for Congress and the president to open new markets abroad and expand consumer access to ethanol just increased exponentially.”

Bower noted that an immediate boost to demand would be the passage of legislation authorizing year-round consumer access to fuels with 15% ethanol blends. He says this solution comes at no cost to consumers, requires no additional infrastructure developments and could use 2.4 billion additional bushels of corn annually at full implementation, according to NCGA estimates. 

NCGA continues to push the administration to quickly broker additional high-volume deals with other countries and finalize details on deals already announced, Bower said. 

Corn growers have noted that India, Vietnam and Kenya are all strategically important markets to them.

As he took in the news, Bower said that this is only the latest in a series of problems for growers. 

“We expect the economic and financial challenges growers are already facing will only worsen with excess supply.”

Source: NCGA