Amy Mayer / Harvest Public Media file photo
Originally published on December 4, 2020 5:32 am
Balance sheets for farms may look better at the end of 2020 than they have in years. That’s according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest forecast.
Some expenses have been lower this year, like diesel to power farm equipment, interest on bank loans and livestock.
“We haven’t had a decline in expenses of this magnitude or duration since the farm crisis of the early 1980s,” says USDA economist Carrie Litowski. But in a presentation about the latest data on farm income, she said income from crop and livestock sales has declined in 2020, even as overall farmers should pull in more money.