News

A little less profitable on the farm in April

The monthly Index of Prices Received by Farmers in April showing a 6 percent decline from March. The Livestock Index was 0.6 percent lower while the Crop Index declined 6.6 percent for the month.

The average price for corn in April was $6.67 per bushel, down 46 cents from March. Soybeans were 40 cents cheaper at $14.20 per bushel, all wheat down 26 cents to average $7.52 per bushel and all hay increased $4 to average $200 per ton.

The average hog price for April was $61.10 per hundredweight up $1.90 from March; beef cattle were unchanged at $124 per hundredweight. Broilers were down a penny at 65 cents per pound, turkeys were up 2.2 cents at 67.2 cents and eggs dropped 30.6 cents to average 64.6 cents per dozen.

The April all milk price increased 20 cents from March to average $19.30 per hundredweight. The milk-to-feed ration for April comes in at 1.56 compared to 1.48 in March and 1.41 a year ago. Florida farmers getting the highest price for milk at $23.30 up 30 cents from March while New Mexico producers got the lowest price $17.80, unchanged from last month.  Normally average dairy cow prices are reported in April but those numbers are not available this time due to budget sequestration cuts.

The Index of Prices Paid by farmers is unchanged from March; higher prices for mixed fertilizer, concentrates, LP gas and feeder cattle offset lower prices for feed grains, diesel, gasoline and nitrogen.

The preliminary All Farm Products Index is up 6.2 percent compared to April of 2012 while the Index of Prices Paid is up 2.3 percent for the year.

Read the full NASS report here: