Net income has risen and government support has fallen.
reader Bruce Hall Lamenting the plight of farmers. I am very interested to see how the Trump administration’s huge bribes have supported agricultural income after the disastrous trade war, and how cash income will surge in 2021. Therefore, despite low government support, net income is expected to increase.
figure 1: The contribution of cash from sales (blue bars), direct government support (brown bars), and all other components (green bars) to changes in agricultural income. Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Data for 12/1/2021.
In other words, in 2020, the increase in government support ($23.3 billion) exceeds the change in net income ($15.7 billion). Where were all the fiscal conservatives at the time (again, why didn’t I hear those public fiscal conservatives calling for agricultural welfare?)
The following are the sources of farm income, arranged by level.
figure 2: Farm income from sales (blue bars), direct government support (brown bars), and cash income from all other components (green bars). Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, January 12, 2022.
By the way, I do attribute some changes in agricultural product prices to the pandemic (worry A commentator in March 2020 assured me that I was exaggerated), but please note that the increase in government financial support and the decline in cash income began before the outbreak of the 2019 pandemic (but after the start of Trump’s trade war).
