Food Production Sector Update – November 2025

Food Production Sector Consolidation Drives M&A Activity

Capstone Partners’ inaugural Food Production Sector Update reports that sector participants have faced continued pressure from rising input costs, low commodity crop prices, and recent tariff policy announcements. As a result, merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the Food Production sector has accelerated year-over-year (YOY) as sector margin strains have worsened, pushing many participants to explore liquidity events or divest non-core operations. While these factors are expected to continue supporting consolidation activity, sector growth will likely recover in the long-term as upward pressure on production costs begin easing.

High input costs, low commodity prices, and elevated debt balances have contributed to the current distress in the Food Production market. Surplus yields from bountiful harvests have pushed crop prices lower—particularly for corn—further straining farm margins. Recent tariff policy announcements have also threatened to disrupt key commodity crop and livestock exports, a particular obstacle to corn and soybean growers. Together, these headwinds will likely have a noticeable impact on U.S. crop cash receipts in 2025 and 2026. However, forecasts for increased farm aid and additional interest rate cuts in late 2025 are expected to help alleviate profit margin strains among Food Production sector participants. Ongoing trade negotiations, if successful, may also prevent customers from swapping to cheaper alternatives from other nations and keep U.S. agricultural exports from nosediving. These tailwinds could ease production costs and margin deterioration in the Food Production sector.

Also included in this report:

• An overview of Food Production market conditions and 2026 outlook.
• A comparison of Food Production sector M&A multiples against those across the broader Agriculture industry during the same period.
• An analysis of notable transactions in the Food Production sector.
• A breakdown of historical production volume and average prices received by farmers for select commodity-level foods across Fruit & Tree Nut, Livestock, Dairy, & Poultry, and Vegetable & Mushroom categories.

Capstone Partners’ Agriculture Investment Banking Team provides M&A, capital formation, and financial advisory services to the owners of middle market businesses in the Food Production Market. Our team partners with leading mid-to-large sized consumer businesses that serve growing end-markets. For more information Food Production market analysis like that featured in this report or to speak with one of our Agriculture Investment Banking Team members about how to grow, value, and/or sell your company, we are here to help. Contact us today to start a conversation.