The evidence of an economic pinch has been illustrated in the year-end economic data summaries in the FINBIN database from the Center for Farm Financial Management at the University of Minnesota. I prefer this database and other state and private farm record summaries over national statistics as these farms and producers are generally in the top two-thirds of performers and the records are much more accurate as they make accrual adjustments.
Declines across performance gradients
The summary data, which represents over 3,000 farms in over 20 states with various enterprises, has been segmented into three groups based on net farm income: the top 20 percent, the median, and the bottom 20 percent. A sharp decline of median net farm income was observed in all three groups.
For the top 20 percent of farms, the decline in net farm income was from over $700,000 to approximately $300,000. This…
