Factors Contributing to Earnings Success of Cash Grain Farms

Ashok K. Mishra, Hisham S. El-Osta, James D. Johnson

Elsewhere No. (0011), December 1999

With agriculture potentially becoming less dependent on federal subsidies, the possibility of increased variability of returns due to the vagaries of weather or the volatility of commodity prices is likely to have an impact on the sector. To be successful in their farming business, farmers will select strategies to improve farm production efficiency, risk management, and overall returns/profits. A better understanding of the characteristics that influence returns and/or profits would be useful to producers who wish to make changes in their farming operations in order to increase returns, and to policymakers who formulate policies designed to help farmers maintain stable incomes.

Keywords: Cash grain farms, profitability, risk management, production efficiency, farm success, Economic Research Service, ERS, USDA, U.S. Department of Agriculture

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Updated date: December 1999