Government payments as a share of gross cash farm income (GCFI)

Gross cash income includes cash income from farm receipts and government payments; expenses are subtracted from gross cash income to calculate net cash income. Off-farm sources of income are not included in this measure. Across all farm types, government payments represent a small portion of gross cash income (3.5 percent in 2010, down from 3.9 percent in 2009), indicating that the marketplace is the primary source of farm earnings.