What happened to bumper harvests from midwestern fields? On October 16, 2026, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago held its annual Midwest Agriculture Conference, a hybrid event featuring experts from academia, industry, and policy institutions who delved into what farmers and those who purchased crops decided to do with the high crop yields of recent years. In the fall of 2025, Midwest farmers faced the question that every bumper crop brought: Where and how did all the bushels of corn and soybeans get stored, transported, marketed, and consumed? While some agricultural production found a home in local bins, either on a farm or at a nearby elevator, most of the output went to feed livestock, fuel vehicles, flavor foods, and nourish consumers. Besides domestic considerations, trade policies also impacted the final destinations for bushels of crops from midwestern farms and the profitability of corn and soybean operations. At this event, we explored these and related issues in depth.