The Census of Agriculture provides a wealth of data on the state of the industry. Economists with NASS recently took a look at farm topology, peeling back the layers of each operation.
“The farm topology sort of slices this up by looking at what’s called the gross cash farm income. Under value production, that farm produces many, many dollars in value production. But the part that comes back to the farmer is just the fee he receives. Cash farm income and the farm topology just count the part that the farmer gets for his fee. Value production counts everything that came off the farm,” said Joseph Parsons.
Economists uncovered that producers on small farms tend to be new to the profession and have served in the military, and they also likely rely on off-farm work to get by. They also discovered that farming has become a retirement plan, with many new small farmers over the age of 65.
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AFBF Economist Danny Munch breaks down a new Farm Bureau analysis showing that producers now earn less than 6 cents of every food dollar, as farm input costs continue to squeeze margins.
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The Biden Administration launched the Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access (ILCMA) program in 2023 to help underserved farmers facing barriers to land ownership.
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Farm CPA Paul Neiffer provided guidance on navigating the R&D tax credit, emphasizing record-keeping, eligibility, and maximizing potential savings as crop margins remain the key pressure point for farmers.
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