ERS: American Farmers Earning 17% Less Than Eight Years Ago

According to the USDA’s Economic Research Service, for every dollar American consumers spend of food, U.S. farmers earn 14.6 cents.  That marks a 17% drop since 2011, and the smallest portion of the American food dollar since ERS started collecting data in 1993.  The remaining 85.4 cents cover off-farm costs, including processing, wholesaling, distribution, marketing, and retailing.

Roger Johnson, President of the National Farmers Union, said even though family farmers and ranchers are more productive today than they have ever been, they’re taking home less and less.

“This one data point doesn’t paint the full picture of the farm economy, but when considered in the context of depressed commodity prices, plummeting incomes, rising input costs, and deteriorating credit conditions, it is certainly clear that we are in the midst of an agricultural financial crisis.”

Johnson added the Ag economy has been eroding since 2011, and there’s only so much longer farmers can hold on.

“Many have already made the heartbreaking decision to close up shop; in just the past five years, the United States lost upwards of 70,000 farm operations. As a country with a growing population and growing nutritional needs, we can’t afford to lose many more.”

Johnson said he is hopeful this ERS report will open the eyes of policy makers to the financial challenges family farmers and ranchers face day in and day out.

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