Harvest & projected price tracker
These are the prices that set your revenue guarantee. The projected price is locked each February; the harvest price is built day by day each October. When the harvest price climbs above your projected floor, your Revenue Protection guarantee climbs with it. Here's where it stands — updated daily during each discovery window.
Key figures at a glance
- The 2026 projected price is $4.62 for corn and $11.09 for soybeans (February average of December corn / November soybean CBOT settlements).
- Corn’s harvest price has finished below its projected price in 10 of the last 15 crop years (2011–2025); soybeans’ in 10 of 15.
- The biggest single-year harvest rally was 2012 corn: $5.68 projected → $7.50 harvest, lifting every Revenue Protection guarantee by 32% in one October.
- The steepest fall was 2014 corn: $4.62 → $3.49, the kind of year the price side of RP is bought for.
Citing these figures? Attribution: AGSIST Harvest Price Tracker, https://agsist.com/harvest-price-tracker (RMA price discovery records, CBOT). Available at no charge; a link back keeps it that way.
The discovery calendar
Corn & soybeans: projected price set in February, harvest price set in October (December corn / November soybean contracts). Other crops and regions discover in different windows — added as they're configured.
Wheat, cotton, and rice discover in crop- and state-specific windows under the same provisions — each gets added here once its exact contract and window are wired and verified, never before.
Fifteen years of projected vs. harvest
The question every Revenue Protection decision quietly asks: how often does October finish below February? Corn’s harvest price has finished below its projected price in 10 of the last 15 crop years (2011–2025); soybeans, 10 of 15. That history is why the price side of RP exists.
| Crop year | Corn proj. | Corn harvest | Beans proj. | Beans harvest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | $6.01 | $6.32 | $13.49 | $12.14 |
| 2012 | $5.68 | $7.50 | $12.55 | $15.39 |
| 2013 | $5.65 | $4.39 | $12.87 | $12.87 |
| 2014 | $4.62 | $3.49 | $11.36 | $9.65 |
| 2015 | $4.15 | $3.83 | $9.73 | $8.91 |
| 2016 | $3.86 | $3.49 | $8.85 | $9.75 |
| 2017 | $3.96 | $3.49 | $10.19 | $9.75 |
| 2018 | $3.96 | $3.68 | $10.16 | $8.60 |
| 2019 | $4.00 | $3.90 | $9.54 | $9.25 |
| 2020 | $3.88 | $3.99 | $9.17 | $10.55 |
| 2021 | $4.58 | $5.37 | $11.87 | $12.30 |
| 2022 | $5.90 | $6.86 | $14.33 | $13.81 |
| 2023 | $5.91 | $4.88 | $13.76 | $12.84 |
| 2024 | $4.66 | $4.16 | $11.55 | $10.03 |
| 2025 | $4.70 | $4.16 | $10.54 | $10.21 |
| 2026 | $4.62 | — | $11.09 | — |
Source: USDA RMA price discovery records (December corn / November soybean contracts, CBOT). Red = harvest below projected; green = above. Verify any figure at prices.rma.usda.gov. Citing this table? Attribution: AGSIST Harvest Price Tracker, https://agsist.com/harvest-price-tracker.
The guarantee math, worked out
Revenue Protection’s per-acre guarantee is APH yield × coverage level × projected price. With the 2026 projected prices locked, a 180-bushel corn APH at 85% coverage guarantees 180 × 0.85 × $4.62 = $706.86 per acre; a 55-bushel soybean APH at 80% guarantees 55 × 0.80 × $11.09 = $487.96. If October’s harvest price finishes above the projected price, the guarantee recalculates upward at the harvest price — it never recalculates down. Run your own numbers with your agent; every unit, practice, and county differs.
Why the running average calms down as October fills
Each discovery price is a plain average of daily settlements — roughly 19 trading days in February, 23 in October. Early in the month, one limit move can swing the running average hard; by day 15, that same move barely nudges it, because it’s one voice among fifteen. That’s why this page labels every in-window figure a running estimate and shows the day count beside it: the number’s reliability is the day count.
What this means for you
If you carry Revenue Protection, watch the October harvest price against your February projected price. Above it, your guarantee escalates — good news whether you're selling or holding. Below it, the price side of your policy is doing its job. Want to see how many bushels your guarantee lets you forward-price?
→ Run the insurance-backed pre-sell calculator
Common questions
How is the projected price set?
It's the average daily settlement of the December corn (or November soybean) futures contract across every trading day in February, rounded to the nearest cent. That number, times your coverage level, times your APH yield, is your per-acre revenue guarantee for the year.
How is the harvest price set?
The same contract, averaged across every trading day in October. Revenue Protection uses the higher of the projected or harvest price, so an October rally raises your guarantee; a decline does not lower it.
How often does the harvest price come in below the projected price?
Across 2011–2025, corn’s harvest price finished below its projected price in 10 of 15 crop years, and soybeans’ in 10 of 15. A lower harvest price never lowers a Revenue Protection guarantee — the policy uses the higher of the two — but it is central to how price-loss indemnities are figured. The full year-by-year table is on this page; verify official figures at prices.rma.usda.gov and talk to your own agent about what it means for your policy.
Why do other crops show different months?
Each crop — and sometimes each region within a crop — has its own contract and discovery window under RMA's Commodity Exchange Price Provisions. Winter wheat keys off September Chicago futures; spring wheat off Minneapolis. Those windows are added here as they're configured.
Are these the official RMA prices?
This tracks the same publicly traded futures RMA uses and applies the same averaging. Treat in-window figures as running estimates until the window closes; the USDA Risk Management Agency publishes the official prices. Always verify with your agent and policy documents.