How to Read NASS Crop Values — Marketing-Year Prices and Value of Production

As of 7 November 2026, 00:26 KST (retrieved by this page at that time); latest edition: Crop Values 2025 Summary from the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), released Feb 26 2026 according to the publication page (the report cover says February 2026). It covers crop years 2023 to 2025, with 2025 prices and values marked preliminary. The report says State prices and values for some 2025 crops will be published in the Crop Values report released February 2027. Primary source: https://esmis.nal.usda.gov/sites/default/release-files/795791/cpvl0226.txt^[1][2]

Comparison basis: values are NASS's table figures in thousands of dollars and prices in dollars per unit, rounded as published; all changes and percentages are this page's calculations from those figures. The 2025 column is preliminary, and the 2025 field-crop total includes sugarbeets, sugarcane and maple syrup valued at 2024 prices.^[1]

In three lines

1. Crop Values gives NASS's marketing-year average prices and the value of production of principal U.S. crops.
2. The 2025 value of field and miscellaneous crops was $167.6 billion (preliminary, February 2026 report), with corn at $70.1 billion and soybeans at $43.6 billion.
3. Value of production is price times production for the crop year, not cash farmers received in a calendar year.^[1]

A valuation, not payments. "State value of production is computed by multiplying each State price by its production." "Value of production for the United States is the sum of State values for all States listed for the crop." "These estimates should not be confused with cash receipts which relate to sales during a calendar year irrespective of the year of production." In this page's reading, a crop's value of production prices the whole crop, including any part still unsold.^[1]

What the prices leave out. "All prices in this report are marketing year average (MYA) prices which do not include allowances or adjustments for commodities under government loan at the end of the marketing year, commodities forfeited to the Commodity Credit Corporation, loan deficiency payments, farm program payments, or disaster payments."^[1]

Marketing years. Each crop has its own marketing year; for corn the U.S. marketing year runs September 1 to August 31. The preliminary 2025 prices for corn, soybeans, wheat and other major field crops use full-month price data through December 2025 plus an allowance for the rest of the marketing year (for cotton and peanuts, no allowance).^[1]

Coverage. For major field crops, U.S. prices come from a monthly price program whose States generally account for 90 percent or more of U.S. marketings; prices for other crops come from annual surveys. Values are by State, and U.S. totals may not add because some State figures are withheld.^[1]

Publication page wording. The publication page describes the report this way: "This annual report contains the marketing year average prices and value of production of principle crops." The word principle is as printed (the report itself says principal crops), and the page files the report under the category Poultry, also as printed.^[2]

Price vs value. In the February 2026 report the preliminary 2025 corn price fell from $4.24 to $4.10 a bushel while corn value of production rose 10.6%, and the soybean price rose from $10.00 to $10.20 while soybean value fell 0.6% (this page's calculations). For both crops price and value moved in opposite directions; the cited pages do not give the production figures behind the change.^[1]

Total vs sum of crops. For 2024, field crops (165,053,031), fruits and nuts (31,331,490) and vegetables (18,624,981) add to the published total of 215,009,502 thousand dollars (this page's check). For 2025, some fruit values are printed (citrus and Hawaii coffee, for example), but the fruit-and-nut total and the 2025 principal-crop total are not; blank cells mean the estimation period had not begun.^[1]

Missing cells by reason. The tables use (D) for figures "Withheld to avoid disclosing data for individual operations.", (NA) for not available, (X) for not applicable, blank cells where the estimation period has not begun, and footnotes for estimates discontinued in 2024 or begun in 2024. These are different reasons, not zeros.^[1]

Preliminary vs final. The report schedules final 2025 marketing-year prices for later releases, for example corn for the United States in the September 2026 Agricultural Prices and corn for all States in the November 2026 Agricultural Prices. NASS's publication page lists Agricultural Prices releases on Jun 29, Jul 31, Aug 31, Sep 29 and Oct 30 2026, and an upcoming release on Nov 30 2026. The September 2026 Agricultural Prices, read in full by this page, later published 2025 marketing-year average prices of $4.16 a bushel for corn (United States) and $10.50 for soybeans, against $4.10 and $10.20 in the February 2026 report; it does not print revised values of production. The other 2026 releases listed were not read by this page.^[1][3][4]

Revision policy. "Estimates contained in this report may be revised the following year if new information is available that would justify a change." "Estimates will also be reviewed after data for the 5-year Census of Agriculture are available." "No revisions will be made after that date."^[1]

Next edition. The publication page lists the report as annual, released each February in recent years, and the report itself refers to the Crop Values report released February 2027 for the remaining 2025 State figures; the cited pages give no exact day.^[1][2]