(Selected research findings from FY 23)
Farm income indicators and forecasts measure the financial performance of the U.S. farm sector
ERS provides authoritative information on the financial health of the farm sector, including the performance of farm operations and well-being of farm households. In the August 2023 statement, ERS forecast a 22.8 percent decrease in 2023 net farm income relative to 2022 estimates. Over the same period, the median income of farm operator households was forecast to increase 2.5 percent. Published three times a year, these core statistical indicators provide guidance to policymakers, lenders, commodity organizations, farmers, and others interested in the status of the farm economy. ERS’s farm income statistics also inform the computation of agriculture’s contribution to the gross domestic product for the U.S. economy in the Bureau of Economic Analysis statistics for Gross Domestic Product.
U.S. farm Producers received $23.5 billion from the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) in 2020
This COVID-19 Working Paper analyzed the distribution of direct Government payments relative to cash receipts in calendar year 2020. Government payments to the farm sector were a record-high $45.7 billion in calendar year 2020. COVID-related payments from two programs—USDA’s Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) at $23.5 billion and Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) at $6.0 billion—accounted for nearly two-thirds of those 2020 payments.
A large percentage of operations held unpriced inventory, with an increase in farm size generally associated with an increase in the amount of unpriced inventory held
The first round of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP 1) provided payments to agricultural producers adversely affected by price declines and other marketing losses caused by COVID-19 pandemic. Since the only producers eligible to receive a CFAP 1 payment were those who held unpriced inventory, this COVID-19 working paper examined the level of unpriced inventory held post-harvest 2019. This report also analyzed the degree to which commodity-specific CFAP 1 rates reflected changes in county-average cash prices between January and April 2020 for corn, soybeans, and spring wheat. The share of counties in which the CFAP 1 rate exceeded 52.5 percent of the decline in cash prices ranged between 49.0 percent for corn and 99.9 percent for spring wheat.
This COVID-19 working paper examined the evolution of the 2020 farm sector income forecasts, illustrating how the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic uncertainty affected the forecasts
The U.S. farm sector net cash farm income (NCFI) and net farm income (NFI) data released by ERS are broad measures of U.S. farm sector profitability. These annual, calendar-year net income measures are initially released as forecasts four times across 13 months for any given year. Later, the measures are released as estimates when more complete data are available. NCFI and NFI forecasts for 2020 were made during a period of exceptional uncertainty related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis of the evolution of NCFI and NFI forecasts in this report provided information on how expectations based on projected and preliminary data changed during the pandemic.
Market concentration increased sharply over the last four decades in many seed, livestock, and food retail markets
Market concentration, and its impact on competition, has attracted growing public scrutiny. Critics argue that many industries have grown too concentrated, with fewer firms competing with one another and a consequent weakening of competition. This report details consolidation in each of seed, livestock and food sectors, explains the driving forces behind increased concentration, and examines public policies aimed at encouraging competition, with a focus on the implementation of merger policy.
U.S. soybean acreage has grown 18 percent in the past 20 years
Soybean is a major U.S. crop, with 87 million planted acres in 2022, making it the second-most planted crop after corn. Soybean is a key source of livestock feed and also an export crop. The U.S. soybean industry has grown over the past two decades in terms of acreage, yield, and production. This study uses nationally representative survey data of U.S. soybean farmers (along with costs and returns data) to examine how production practices, export demand, public policy, and environmental factors have changed over the past two decades.
Cow-calf production became more specialized from 1996 to 2018
This report examines the enterprise costs, farm financial measures, and use of advanced technologies, management practices, and production systems across the diversity of size, location, and involvement in various cattle production stages in the cow-calf industry to provide insights into the structure and changes in the industry over the last two decades. Using data from the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service’s (NASS) Census of Agriculture, the Economic Research Service found that from 1997 to 2017 there was a modest decline in the number of U.S. cow-calf operations and some shifts from smaller to larger scale operations.
The percentage of beginning and socially disadvantaged (SDA) farming operations is negatively correlated with average lease size and percentage of cropland acreage
This report is in response to the 2018 Farm Bill, wherein the U.S. Congress tasked the U.S. Department of Agriculture with analyzing the barriers preventing or hindering SDA farmers and ranchers to acquire or access farmland, and what USDA is doing to address these concerns. Several factors may contribute to the challenges of accessing land for farming through purchase or rental, including the aging of the population of U.S. farmers, the increasing concentration of farmland ownership, credit constraints, and competition for land from urban and environmental uses.
In 2021, approximately 89 percent of all farms were small family farms and operated 45 percent of the agricultural land
Each year, ERS produces the America's Farms and Ranches at a Glance report, which provides the latest statistics on U.S. farms, including production, financial performance, pandemic assistance, and farm household financial characteristics by farm size. ERS farm classification, or typology, is used to categorize farms into groupings to better understand conditions across the United States’ broad farm sector. This year’s edition explores farm household health insurance coverage, input acquisition practices, farm liquidity, and agritourism adoption.
A majority of row crop acreage is managed using auto-steer and guidance systems
This report analyzes farmers’ digital agriculture (DA) adoption rates for soil maps, yield maps, yield monitors, VRT, auto-steer and guidance systems, and aerial imagery across six major crops: corn, cotton, rice, sorghum, soybeans, and winter wheat. Auto-steer guidance systems were used on only 5.3 percent of planted corn acres in 2001, growing to 58 percent in 2016. Estimates for 2019 suggested 72.9-percent and 64.5-percent adoption rates for sorghum and cotton (planted acreage). In the same year, GPS applications were used on 40 percent of all U.S. farm and ranchland acreage for on-farm production.
ERS examines developments in U.S. agricultural policies that were employed in 2021
This report is the inaugural edition in a planned series focusing on policies related to production agriculture, agrofood value chains, and food and nutrition assistance. In 2021, these policies remained focused on addressing the effects of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the impacts of extreme weather events. The United States Department of Agriculture also introduced new initiatives aimed at addressing the impacts of climate change, as well as supporting improved equity in access to farm programs and outreach to underserved communities.
Manure was applied to only about 8 percent of the 240.9 million acres planted to 7 major U.S. field crops
This study describes current manure production, handling, storage, and use utilizing data from the USDA Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS). Manure is a major source of crop nutrients in organic food production, which represents an expanding market in the United States. However, if manure-supplied nutrients exceed crop needs, crop producers will not demand the excess nutrients, lowering their value. Three hundred seventy-one counties in the United States have been identified as having more manure-supplied nutrients than crops need. In addition, the report describes existing and emerging technologies that have the potential to increase the value of manure or reduce manure management costs.
U.S. organic farm sales have increased from an estimated $609 million in 2000 to nearly $11 billion in 2021 in inflation adjusted dollars
While organic acreage was still only 1 percent of U.S. farmland in 2019, organic farm sales accounted for almost 3 percent of U.S. farm receipts, reflecting the high-value sector focus and the price premiums for commodities. U.S. organic farms continue to have higher production costs than the average of all U.S. farms but also higher average total sales and net cash income. This report describes important U.S. organic policy initiatives since 2000 and examines the importance of investment in research on organic practices. This report also investigates key components of organic supply chains—including production, certification, farm-level costs and returns, wholesale markets, and industry structure—along with the evolving characteristics of organic food consumers and retail markets.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria, the number of farms smaller than 10 acres decreased by more than 50 percent
In September 2017, Hurricanes Irma and Maria caused major disruptions, destroying Puerto Rico’s agricultural harvest and infrastructure, with long-lasting effects on the makeup of its agricultural sector. This report examines the resulting changes in Puerto Rico’s agricultural sector between 2012 and 2018, based on statistics collected under the 2017. Overall, between agricultural census years 2012 and 2018, the number of farms declined by 37.5 percent and acreage under cultivation by 16.6 percent, a loss of 4,929 farms and 97,213 acres.