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Minnesota farms profitable across most commodities in 2020

New data from the University of Minnesota shows for the first time in six years, farms of all types made money in 2020.

Extension economist Pauline Van Nurden says their analysis also showed median net farm income reached levels not seen in almost a decade at $107,000.

“Farms not only experienced that profitability, but were able to build some working capital and repayment capacity again.”

The report says government support programs played a crucial role, accounting for 12 percent of gross farm income.

Van Nurden tells Brownfield crop farmers capitalized on higher prices by producing above trend-line yields.

“That record production certainly helped with crop farm profitability as well. And honestly farms certainly did see that runup in prices, but the reaping of benefits of that will probably come into play this year. A lot of grain last year was pre-priced.”

The median net farm income across Minnesota crop farms in 2020 was nearly $110,000.  The median dairy farm earned $173,000.  Pork producer net earnings averaged $310,000.  And for beef producers, median net farm income was up $4,000 on the year at just under $43,000 in 2020.