4 takeaways from USDA's 2016 Farm Sector Income Forecast

Here are several notable highlights from the report: 1. Overall cash receipts are expected to decline in 2016, but this decline is not universal across all commodities. Turkeys, rhe, cotton, miscellaneous oil crops and tobacco could see increases of more than 10%. 2. Direct government farm program payments could rise by $2.1 billion in 2016, a 19.1% increase from a year ago. 3. Total farm sector equity is down $79.9 billion, or 3.1%, in 2016. The bulk of this can be attributed to falling real estate values (down $12.0 billion); inventory value of crops, animals and purchased inputs (down $17.4 billion); 4. Production expenses were a mixed bag in 2016. Several categories increased from last year, including feed purchases, labor, pesticides and property taxes/fees. This was more than offset by decreases in other categories, including livestock/poultry purchases, fertilizer, seed, net rent, interest and fuel/oil.