News

Net farm income up, helped by government payments

USDA estimates net farm income for 2019 will be up more than ten percent from last year, to nearly 93 billion dollars.

But nearly a quarter of that number will come from direct government payments, says USDA chief economist Rob Johannson.

“They’re about 22.4 billion dollars, up 64 percent from last year,” he says.

Those government payments include Market Facilitation Program and disaster aid payments.

Crop insurance indemnities, minus what farmers paid for the policies, are at six and a half billion dollars, the highest level since 2013.