Substantial oil, gas, wind payments go to a sliver of farmers
A fraction of U.S. farmers, about 3.5 percent, receive payments for oil, gas, and wind energy production on their land, and those payments provide “substantial income,” said a USDA report. With the growth of wind and solar energy, a wider array of farmers could benefit from the payments, now centered in the Great Plains, said the Economic Research Service.
Farmers’ tax liability to rise as tax breaks expire in 2025
Farmers would face an increased federal tax liability of billions of dollars following the expiration of Trump-era tax breaks in 2025, said USDA economists. The biggest impact, estimated at a combined $4.5 billion, would come from reduced income tax rates on individuals, an increased standard deduction, a cap on the deduction for state and local taxes, and the elimination of the personal exemption.
‘We need a safety net that works,’ say farm-state senators
Pointing to forecasts of a second year in a row of falling farm income, Republican senators called for more money for farm subsidies on Wednesday. “We’ve got to get it right for production agriculture” in the new farm bill, said North Dakota’s John Hoeven at a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing.
USDA announces grants for underutilized renewable technology
The USDA will offer $144 million in grants to help farmers install under-utilized renewable energy technology, such as small-scale windmills, announced Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday. The clean energy equipment could reduce costs and increase income, said the USDA.
While still above average, farm income is forecast to fall this year
U.S. farm income will tumble for the second year in a row from the record set in 2022, pulled down by lower commodity prices and rising production costs, forecast the Agriculture Department on Wednesday. Net farm income would fall 25 percent, to $116.1 billion, but still run 15 percent ahead of its 10-year average.
GAO: Many barriers to precision agriculture beyond cost
Precision agriculture equipment, such as yield monitors, have been available since the 1990s, yet farmer adoption of the technology has been slow, said a congressional report on Thursday that listed a half-dozen barriers beyond high acquisition costs.
Farm income this year will be second-highest ever, says USDA
U.S. net farm income will be a stronger-than-expected $151 billion this year, the second-highest total on record, estimated the Agriculture Department on Thursday. That’s roughly $10 billion higher than the August forecast and due chiefly to cost cutting by producers, aided by lower fertilizer, fuel, and feed prices.
Farm income cools, land prices climb in northern Plains
Cropland values rose by 7.2 percent in the northern Plains this summer, said agricultural bankers in a quarterly survey by the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank. Land values rose even as farm income declined from last summer, lenders said, due to high production costs and lower commodity prices, with a decline expected for this fall, too.
USDA says $3 billion available to offset 2022 disasters
Row crop and specialty crop growers are eligible for more than $3 billion from the Emergency Relief Program (ERP) to offset losses from natural disasters in 2022, said the USDA. Administrator Zach Ducheneaux of the Farm Services Agency said 2022 "was another year of weather-related challenges — for some, the third consecutive year or more in a row."
Some signs of softening farmland values, says Fed economist
Although farmland values are strong, some ag bankers report a downturn in prices in the central Plains after a three-year run-up in values, said senior economist Cortney Cowley of the Kansas City Federal Reserve on Wednesday. The majority of bankers, however, expect farmland values to hold steady or increase moderately.
Reformers call for farm bill ‘guardrails’ on crop insurance
Congress should make the wealthiest farmers pay a larger share of the cost of taxpayer-subsidized crop insurance and hold the line on crop subsidies in the new farm bill, said a half dozen think tanks, budget hawks, and environmental groups on Wednesday. “There is no obvious or urgent need to increase farm subsidies,” said Nan Swift of the R Street Institute, despite the appeals of farm groups.
Rural poverty rate is stable, says Census Bureau
Household income edged downward in rural America in 2022, but the poverty rate held steady at 15 percent, said the Census Bureau on Tuesday. Median household income in rural America was more than $21,000 lower than in metropolitan areas, helping to explain why rural poverty rates are higher than the U.S. average.
Farm income to plateau after this year’s decline, says think tank
U.S. farm income will decline modestly in 2024 and then run at historically high levels in the near term, said the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) think tank at the University of Missouri on Monday. Although well above average, net farm income of around $140 billion annually in coming years would be a step down from the record of $183 billion last year.
Stronger farm bill is antidote for weakening income, says GOP report
Congress should provide a “meaningful enhancement” of crop subsidies and the crop insurance program in light of declining farm income, said Republican staff workers on the Senate Agriculture Committee on Thursday. “Headwinds persist in the U.S. farm economy,” they said in a report, pointing to a slowdown in farm exports, weakening commodity prices, high production costs, and rising interest rates.
Farm finances are strong despite moderation in ag economy
Agricultural credit conditions are likely to remain strong through the end of this year, although bankers expect farm income and loan repayment rates, now the healthiest since 2010, to soften in the months ahead, said the Kansas City Federal Reserve on Thursday.
Commodity price boom is fading away, says FAPRI
The season-average prices for most U.S. agricultural commodities are on a decline that could persist into 2026, said a report from the FAPRI think tank at the University of Missouri. Global economic growth has slowed after a heady recovery from the pandemic in 2021, and world grain production is up this year, creating more competition for U.S. crops.
Farm income booms for third year in a row
The U.S. agricultural sector is headed for the third year in a row of exceptionally high net farm income, albeit a step down from the record set last year. Since 2021, net farm income — a broad measure of profits — has run at least $39 billion a year above the 10-year average.
Impetus slows for higher cropland values, say ag bankers
The farm real estate market was resilient in the face of higher interest rates and "some moderation" in the farm economy this spring, according to commercial lenders surveyed by five regional Federal Reserve banks.
Premium subsidies for crop insurance near $12 billion a year
In a decade, government outlays to subsidize crop insurance increased 60 percent, expanding in step with the rapid growth in acreage covered by the policies, according to Risk Management Agency data released Sunday.