The North Dakota corn harvest is moving ahead under clearer October skies after weeks of rain delays, and farmers say the outlook for 2026 is upbeat despite elevated diesel and input costs. The improved conditions follow a 2025 season in which the North Dakota corn sector, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, covered 1.5 million acres at an average value of $3.85 per bushel.
Producers expressed cautious optimism that yields next year could top last season’s results. Many pointed to a favorable stretch of weather that has finally allowed combines to roll, along with steady demand for grains and oilseeds.
North Dakota corn harvest and regional results
USDA figures show North Dakota farmers also harvested 6.4 million acres of soybeans in 2025, averaging 34.5 bushels per acre. Additional crops such as canola, sunflowers, barley, oats and sugar beets broadened the state’s production mix.
In Minnesota, growers planted 7.1 million acres of soybeans with an average yield of 52.5 bushels per acre. Grain corn there totaled 8.4 million acres at an average 201 bushels per acre. Hay and haylage were cut on 1.4 million acres, with crop diversity including spring wheat and oats.
Predictions upended by biofuels
In the 1980s, some winter-meeting forecasts envisioned a shrinking Grain Belt as less efficient regions and operators exited, theoretically leaving larger shares of a static financial pie for those who remained. The toll on communities that would be left behind drew little attention at the time.
Rapid technological change and policy shifts have since complicated any straight-line predictions. Few in the first half of that decade anticipated how central ethanol and biodiesel would become. In 1987, Minnesota counted only two small ethanol plants. Today, 21 large facilities operate in the state. North Dakota’s ethanol industry did not exist in 1987, but a state production incentive helped launch the Walhalla plant in 1989, with five more facilities now in operation.
Long-running resistance to plant-based fuels
The biofuels sector faced substantial hurdles and required government support to overcome opposition from fossil fuel interests worried about market share. Pushback dates to the 1920s, when a General Motors engineer presented evidence that blending 30% ethanol with gasoline improved engine performance. Companies including DuPont and Standard Oil promoted leaded gasoline to curb engine knock instead.
Henry Ford’s Model T could run on ethanol, gasoline or kerosene, but hopes that farm-produced ethanol could bolster rural incomes faded when Prohibition curtailed on-farm production. Several prominent fossil fuel figures were also active in the Prohibition movement.
Economic development amid rural strain
Federal and state ethanol incentives have created new economic development avenues for farmers and rural towns. Public opinion polling continues to show strong support for family farmers and rural life.
Yet many communities are grappling with hospital closures and reduced access to care, while foundations of rural society, including Main Street businesses, churches and schools, have weakened.
Challenges rooted in the 1980s persist. While sweeping government intervention may be unlikely, residents and local leaders are expected to collaborate on solutions. Advocates say momentum for renewal in the 21st century will come from the grassroots, not from distant federal leadership.
Few in the mid-1980s foresaw ethanol becoming a pillar of economic development. That history is cited by farmers and rural stakeholders who believe a better tomorrow is achievable if communities work together.
Reporting adapted from commentary by Mychal Wilmes, retired managing editor of Agri News, who lives in West Concord, Minnesota.