Recent projections for the 2026 crop year suggest a fourth consecutive year of negative farmer returns to corn-soybean rotations in Illinois on cash rented farmland. The current return for owned and cash rented farmland is the same. Farmland ownership has also provided capital returns through increased farmland values. Low farmer returns from cash rent farmland relative to land prices make it difficult for farmers to use rented farmland to build capital to support a farmland purchase.
