Overview
Estimates of farm business balance sheets are presented for the United States and individual States (1960-2003). The balance sheet includes component accounts for assets, debt, and equity, where equity equals assets minus debt, 1960 to the present. The disaggregated balance sheets enable users to assess the status and trends of wealth within the farm sector.
Assets are valued at
market prices on December 31 of each year or as close to December 31 as possible.
Debt is classified as either real estate or nonreal estate. Nominal and real capital
gains on farm assets and debt are estimated. An extensive set of financial ratios
is presented reflecting the solvency, productivity, liquidity, and efficiency
of the farm sector in the aggregate. These financial measures provide useful indicators
of farm sector financial performance.
Both operators' and landlords' shares
of the assets and debt for the farming operation are included in the balance
sheet. If a loan is secured by farm real estate, then it is classified as
real estate farm debt, regardless of how the loan is used. The dwelling occupied
by operators is not included in the farm business balance sheet.
Data
Farm
balance sheets for the most recent time periods are available (see
table).
See all data files...
Note
The estimation of State-level balance sheets was suspended in 2003. ERS will continue to publish aggregate sector wide balance
sheet estimates at the National level. However, data needed
to construct State-level balance sheets are no longer
available. Based on a thorough review of data used to construct
aggregate sector wide farm balance sheets at the State
level, ERS has concluded that insufficient data are available
to continue to make reliable estimates.
Definition of Farm Balance Sheet Terms
See also computational
methods for these terms.
More Information
An analysis of the farm sector balance sheet is provided
in the Agricultural
Income and Finance reports. The most recent forecast data files are available and a discussion is provided in the forecast
section of the Farm Income and Costs briefing room.
Historical data of the farm business balance sheet and
related financial ratios can be selected from the menus
above.
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