After the period of heightened volatility in previous years, 2024 and 2025 brought a relative stabilization of agricultural input prices across the European Union. According to Eurostat data, the price index for goods and services consumed in agriculture recorded moderate changes in 2025, remaining below the 1% threshold at aggregate level.

This stabilization, however, does not imply a return to comfortable levels for farms. Costs for fertilizers, energy, and mechanized services remain significantly above the average of the past decade, and the rigidity of these costs limits farms’ ability to react quickly to fluctuations in output prices.

From a technical perspective, farms that adjusted their production technology—by optimizing input application rates, adapting work schedules, and controlling consumption—managed to limit the impact of fixed costs. Holdings that maintained input-intensive technologies without alignment to market conditions continue to experience constant pressure on margins.

In 2026, economic vulnerability is not driven by sudden price increases, but by the inability to reduce unit costs in an environment of volatile agricultural prices.

(Photo: Freepik)