Outlook for Farm Incomes

The US Agriculture Department says 2018 may look a lot like 2017 when it comes to farm incomes in the US.

2017 was a year of flat or falling commodity prices.

USDA Chief Economist Rob Johansson says farm incomes can include direct safety net programs from the government. He tells USDA Gary Crawford those were down close to 14 percent last year from 2016 and.

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The Agriculture Risk Coverage program will likely also see a down turn.

Livestock prices are expected to come down a bit as well. On the Dairy side prices are expected drop but just a bit and not enough to trigger payments from the federal government under the margin protection program.

The USDA will make its first official Farm Income Forecast in February.

For food consumers the early forecast calls for a 1 to 2 percent increase in prices. Higher energy, oil and gas and labor costs are all expected to put upward pressure on prices.