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The first look at 2021 projected farm income

The USDA projects 2021 net farm income to decline $10 billion compared to 2020 levels.  The department released its first Farm Income Forecast on Friday.

University of Missouri ag economist Scott Brown says while it may seem like a drastic drop, there is more to the story. “The issue here is government payments. The USDA says we rolled out about $46.3 billion of direct government payments in 2020 and they’re currently estimating $25.3 billion in 2021. So that’s a $21 billion decline in direct government payments.”

He tells Brownfield market receipts for both livestock and crops are expected to rise in 2021. “Total livestock receipts up, not quite $9 billion, $4 billion of it’s cattle, $3 billion of it’s hog receipts. You look at the crop side, these crop prices that we’ve seen as of late are also going to add roughly $12 billion in crop cash receipts.”

Brown says the projected higher crop prices are expected to raise input costs for livestock producers around $2 billion this year.

The USDA says the information released today reflects a growing need to ramp up focus on expanding existing markets to create new opportunities for farmers, ranchers, and producers at home and abroad.