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2008 Farm Income Forecast

2008 Net Farm Income Is Forecast To Be $92.3 Billion

Net farm income is forecast to be $92.3 billion, up 4.1 percent above the $88.7 billion farmers are projected to have earned in 2007 and 51 percent above its 10-year average of $61.1 billion.

Net cash income, at $96.6 billion, is forecast to be $9 billion (10 percent) above 2007, which was the previous record. Net cash income is projected to rise more than net farm income because of the large carryover of crops harvested in the prior year, which will be sold in 2008.

The story in 2008 is the value of crop production ($175.5 billion), which is forecast to exceed the 2007 record by $25.9 billion (a 17-percent increase). Prices of major crops (corn, soybeans, wheat) were trending upward in late 2007 and are expected to maintain or add to those gains in early 2008.

Get the full farm sector income forecast.

Farm Operator Household Income Up in 2008

In 2008, average farm household income is projected to be $89,434, up 6.3 percent from 2007 and 19.2 percent above the 5-year average of 2002-06. Average off-farm income of $75,805 in 2008, up 4.6 percent from 2007, accounts for nearly 85 percent of the average farm operator household's income.

The average income of households from farm earnings is forecast to be $13,629 in 2008, up 16.3 percent from 2007's estimate and driven largely by higher cash grain and soybean receipts. While expenses have increased (especially for feed, seed, fertilizer, chemicals, fuel, and utilities), the large increase in cash grain and soybean sales should result in significantly higher farm earnings for the average farm household in 2008.

On average, farms that rely more on farm income are expected to experience larger growths in household income than farms that rely less on farm income. Commercial farm households (7.8 percent of family farms) derive nearly three-quarters of total income from farm sources. Operators of these farms are projected to average $229,920 in household income in 2008, a 9.3-percent increase over 2007. Intermediate farm households (27.5 percent of family farms) receive a much smaller share of household income (16.5 percent ); total household income for these farms is forecast at $63,604 in 2008, up 7.4 percent from 2007.

Most family farms (64.7 percent) are rural residence farms, which produce less than $250,000 in products an any year. The major occupation of their operators is not farming, and rural residence households receive little (or negative) income from farm sources. Household income of rural residence farm households is forecast to average $83,443 in 2008, an increase of 4.9 percent from 2007.

Get the forecast for farm household income.