The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) December 2024 farm income forecast confirms just how tough a year it’s been for American agriculture, with slightly revised projections offering little relief to farmers.
The latest numbers indicate farmers are still struggling, losing nearly a quarter of their income in two years.
USDA’s September report showed net farm income was expected to decline 4.4% to $140 billion across the farm economy.
The December report revised the decline to 4.1%, slightly higher to $140.7 billion for the year.
“It’s not that big of an increase, but still reflects a significant drop from 2022, so even though there’s not a lot of change between September and December, it still sort of demonstrates that agriculture is in the red this year in 2024,” Danny Munch, an economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), said.
Some sectors of the agricultural economy are faring better than others.
“There were slight upward adjustments for many of the livestock sectors, particularly cattle and eggs. Those were adjusted upward,” he said. “Some of your biggest crop sectors, they’ll take the biggest hit. Corn and soybeans anticipated down.”
Difficult economic conditions combined with natural disasters make preparing for 2025 more difficult.
“Government payments in the report continue to be down 12.3% from last year,” Munch said. “A lot of that is linked to lower ad-hoc disaster payments. We know a lot of farmers are still dealing with natural disasters from hurricanes and limited congressional action, as well as outdated programs in the farm bill. So, this report really puts into high gear the importance for Congress to come together and help farmers through those natural disasters.”
For more information on the December farm income forecast, read AFBF’s Market Intel report.
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