Corn, the most widely produced feed grain, is grown in nearly every US state with production heavily concentrated in the Midwest. The states of Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, and Minnesota all produced over 1 billion bushels of corn in 2018, according to the USDA, which represented 55% of total US production.

The production from these states accounted for $26.8 billion dollars in gross farm revenue, based on cash index values from cmdty, and was just slightly under 55% of production value at 54.7% of the $49.0 billion dollars in gross farm revenue generated in the United States. The slight disparity in value vs. volume produced is attributable to spreads between cash prices paid from state-to-state, representing the increased costs to deliver grain for origins that are further away from major waterways and ports.

South Dakota is a perfect example of this phenomena, as the cash price paid for front-month corn as of 12/31/18, was $3.24/bu vs. higher prices available in other states that are near the Mississippi River, the Ohio River, or even the Gulf of Mexico. Shown graphically on the map below, it’s clear that prices tend to be higher nearer the gulf and the main arteries of the United States.

Users of cmdtyView Pro get exclusive access to grain price and basis indexes from cmdty. These proprietary indexes - with a full twelve months of forward curves - are calculated in real-time and provide users with county-level granularity on the fair value for grain across the nation. Generated for both cash and basis, there are over 45,000 unique indexes are calculated each day.

With cmdtyView Excel, which is included with cmdtyView Pro, users can easily pull this information into quoteboards to perform bespoke analysis and power their own pricing models for theoretical corn values. In addition to raw corn prices, users of cmdtyView Pro can answer the questions below using the tools available in the system. Reach out to cmdty@barchart.com to find out how!

Which state produces the most corn? Iowa

What is the value of corn produced in the United States? The value of corn produced in the United States is approximately $49 billion

How many states produce over 1 billion bushels of corn per year? Four Midwestern states of Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, and Minnesota all produced over 1 billion bushels of corn in 2018