Farm Income Increase
I’m Bob Larson. For fiscal year 2021, the USDA projects net farm income to increase $18.5 billion from 2020, or 19.5%, to $113 billion.American Farm Bureau Federation Senior Economist, Veronica Nigh says the forecast puts net farm income at the highest level since 2013 …
NIGH … “We hit a low of $62 billion back in 2016. So, reaching $113 billion in 2021 is certainly an impressive turnaround for the sector. 68 percent of that increase in receipts, is due to a price impact, which means about 30 percent of that increase is due to increases in the quantity sold.”
Nigh says its largely attributed to increased commodity prices …
NIGH … “On the crop side, obviously a significant increase in receipts from corn, soybeans and wheat, which are forecast to increase by $38 billion. But it's not all good news on the crop side, unfortunately, for specialty crop growers, vegetable and melon and fruit and nut cash receipts are projected down by over $4 billion. On the animal products, we're looking at an increase of $26 billion. On the dairy side, basically no change, which is the third year in a row, unfortunately, for our dairy sector that we haven't seen an increase.”
Nigh says USDA projects total farm expenses up 7% from last year, roughly $26 billion.
She says that's influenced by an increase in fuel and oil prices, increase in fertilizer prices, and labor expenses.