USDA sees another big drop in farm income for 2018

USDA forecast net farm income for this year at $65.7 billion, up from a February projection but down $9.8 billion, or 13 percent, from 2017, when the broad measure of farmland profits increased nearly 23 percent. The department’s Economic Research Service said that in inflation-adjusted 2018 dollars, net farm income is expected to drop $11.4 billion for the year, after increasing $13 billion (20.3 percent) in 2017. If realized, inflation-adjusted net farm income for 2018 would be just slightly above 2016, which was its lowest level since 2002.