Meyer: Expenditure Report Shows Unique Data

USDA's annual Farm Production Expenditures Report reflects a rise year-over-year with producers in 2020 spending over $366 billion dollars for total inputs and services. But, as USDA Chief Economist Seth Meyer points out, it's been an unusual 18 months or so. Due to the pandemic and other market disruptions that perhaps mask how trends and farm expenditures impacted producers.

"For many of these expenditures they almost have a funny "U" Shape," Meyer pointed out. "Prices declined for some of these things in the pandemic as things slowed. And then all of a sudden in more recent months we see a rise in some of these prices since that point."

Meyer says when looking at individual farm expenditure categories: "It provides us a good reference point for say, 2020, on average relative to 2019."

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