State-Level Farm Economy

USDA’s most recent Farm Income Forecast, released Sept. 2, provided an update on 2020 farm income projections, as well as the first estimates of state-level farm financial conditions for 2019, e.g., Farm Cash Receipts Forecasted to Hit a Decade-Low in 2020 and A Tale of Two Farm Incomes.

During 2019, gross cash receipts from the sales of crops and livestock are estimated at $432 billion, up 2% from 2018, but down $52 billion, or 11%, from the record-high in 2013. At the state level, cash receipts were the highest in California at $54 billion, up 2% from the prior year. Following California, gross cash receipts were highest across portions of the western Corn Belt and in Texas, which has a high concentration of feed grain, oilseed and cotton production, as well as livestock feeding operations. Cash receipts in Iowa were nearly $32 billion, up 4% from 2018. The following figure identifies gross cash receipts from crop and livestock sales during 2019.Expand Image

State-Level Profitability

After taking into account production expenses, state-level net farm income, a broad measure of farm profitability, was the highest in California at $11 billion, but was down nearly 30% from 2018 and down 27% compared to the 10-year average. Similar to gross cash receipts, net farm income was the highest across the western Corn Belt and into the Southwest. Despite having higher year-over-year net farm income nationally, in many states farm income was below prior-year levels and well below the 10-year average. The following figures identify state-level net farm income and the percent change relative to the 10-year average. .