News

USDA February prices received index up 6.1%

U.S. ag producers made more in February than in January.

The USDA’s index of prices received was up 6.1% on the month with higher prices for hogs, cattle, oranges, and lettuce cancelling out declines in milk, market eggs, broiler chickens, and onions. The crop index increased by 10%, led by a jump in vegetables and melons and with smaller month to month rises in feed grains and oilseeds. Food grains were down 0.5%. The livestock index was 0.5% higher, with meat animals up 3.2%, dairy 2.1% higher, and poultry and eggs down 7.2%. Month to month, marketings of cattle, milk, and broiler chickens were higher, while marketings of soybeans, corn, and cotton were lower.

The index of prices paid by producers was up 0.1% with higher prices for feeder pigs, nitrogen, complete feed, and concentrates cancelling lower costs for feeder cattle, insecticides, herbicides, and supplements.

Year to year, the received index is down 0.9% and the paid index is up 0.3%.