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2025 farm incomes expected to be propped up by aid

The director of the Renk Agribusiness Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison says the USDA projects 2025 farm incomes to be higher than recent years.

However, in a Science for Success webinar, Paul Mitchell says there’s a caveat to that.

“We got this big jump in net farm income coming, but there’s not big changes.”  He says, “In fact, there’s kind of declines in the crops and the livestock.  Where is it all coming from?  It’s coming from these direct government payments.”

He says U.S. farmers are in line to receive billions of dollars in disaster and economic relief assistance.

“To the point that it will actually raise net farm income to the second highest we’ve ever seen in terms of government payments, but also very high net farm income.”  He says, “Yet nevertheless, despite this large number, we’ve got still a lot of economic distress among farmers.”

Mitchell says in row crops that distress is driven by negative margins.  

“Corn after corn $120 to $150 loss per acre.”  He says, “Corn after soybeans is $100.00 an acre, and then soybeans are $70 to $90.”

Mitchell says the number of farm bankruptcies was up 55% in 2024 compared to the previous year, and he expects that number to continue to increase in 2025.