‘It landed in the checking account’: Wisconsin farm economist, lender say 2022 was a good year for ag

Even with inflation pushing up fuel, fertilizer prices, most farms are expected to be profitable this year

Wisconsin Public Radio

Written By: Hope Kirwan

Published: January 2nd, 2023

Photo Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Even after a year of record high inflation, economic forecasts show 2022 was a good year to be farming.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service estimated that national net farm income will reach $160.5 billion for the year. That’s 13.8 percent higher than in 2021 and roughly 50 percent higher than the 20-year average, according to ag economist Paul Mitchell.

Mitchell, who leads the Renk Agribusiness Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said part of the prosperity comes from COVID-19 aid from the federal government, which helped kick-start demand after an initial downturn at the start of the pandemic.

“We’ve had unprecedented levels of commodity support for agriculture for a couple years and then really good prices,” he said.

The higher commodity prices helped soften the blow of lower government payments this year, which are forecast to be around 36 percent lower than they were last year.

Adjusted for inflation, net farm income is still forecast to be up 7.2 percent from 2021 and is at its highest level since 1973.

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