Farm Income, Production Costs Continue To Climb

Last week, USDA released updated farm income numbers, and the outlook is still bleak. Faith Parum, economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation, says the adjustment recalibrates numbers USDA released in February, raising the 2026 net farm income forecast by about $5 billion, which is expected to hit $158 billion when it’s all said and done. That, Parum pointed out, would be a decline from 2025 farm income of roughly $163 billion.

“So, we're continuing to see higher cash receipts in some commodities as prices continue to increase," Parum said. "We continue to see more and more production expenses as well. In fact, they increased their first estimate of production expenses by $15 billion. So, continuing to see record production expenses this year.”

Congress Needs To Pass A New Farm Bill

Parum added there is one major lever that Congress can pull to help stabilize the farm economy.

“Yeah, the biggest thing policymakers can do is pass a full five-year Farm Bill," said Parum. "We know that the Senate will be considering it when they come back from recess, and so we really encourage lawmakers to continue to work on a farm bill, pass it, so we can have a fully modernized, harmonized farm bill that will give some security to farmers and ranchers as they plan ahead.”

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