A defining feature of the 2025 Farm Bill is higher statutory reference prices. A central rationale for the increase was higher cost of production. Relative to cost per trend output unit for the nine crops that USDA (US Department of Agriculture) computes cost, the 2025 statutory reference prices average 3% lower than for the 2019 crop year, the first under the 2018 Farm Bill, and 9% lower than the target prices for the 2002 crop year. These comparisons imply the 2025 Farm Bill statutory reference prices are not out-of-line, even somewhat less than the increases in cost to produce US crops so far in the 21st Century.

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