Compare U.S., Brazil corn costs

Brazil’s expansion in corn production during the past decade has made the country a more important competitor in global corn markets, increasing competitive pressure for U.S. producers. Although the United States remains the world’s largest corn producer by a wide margin, Brazil has become a more prominent competitor mainly due to the growth of second-crop corn planted after soybeans. This production system enables Brazilian farmers to spread fixed costs across two crops in the same year, resulting in a cost structure that differs from that of U.S. corn farms. Using standardized economic data from the agribenchmark network, this article compares corn production costs and returns in the United States and Brazil from 2020 to 2024. The analysis examines key differences in cost structures and profitability, providing insight into the factors affecting corn competitiveness in both countries.

Corn competitiveness is analyzed using data from one typical farm in Iowa, United States, and one in Mato Grosso, Brazil – major corn-producing regions in their respective countries. The United States and Brazil account for 43% of global corn production and almost 60% of global corn exports. The study period, from 2020 to 2024, includes two major market shocks: the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia–Ukraine war. The average area planted to corn over this period was 5,900 acres on the Brazilian farm and 1,800 acres on the U.S. farm. Costs and revenues are expressed in U.S. dollars to enable direct cross-country comparisons.

The data comes from the agribenchmark network, which systematically compiles production and economic information on beef, cash crops, dairy, pigs, poultry, horticulture, and organic enterprises across 35 countries in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. The agribenchmark concept of typical farms was developed to facilitate the analysis and comparison of prevailing farm production systems worldwide. Participants follow standardized procedures to construct typical farms that reflect national production shares and are classified by production systems, enterprise combinations, and structural characteristics.

As with soybeans, differences in corn input use and production costs across farms in the United States and Brazil reflect variation in technology adoption, input prices, soil fertility, production efficiency, trade policies, exchange rate dynamics, labor availability, and market conditions. Figure 1 presents the input cost shares for each farm, categorized into three major groups: direct costs, operating costs, and overhead costs. Direct costs include seed, plant protection, fertilizer, irrigation, crop insurance, drying costs, and finance costs. Operating costs comprise machinery costs, labor costs (both hired labor and family labor), contractor costs, fuel, and other energy expenses. Overhead costs consist of land, building depreciation, repairs and interest, property taxes, insurance, and miscellaneous expenses.