USDA Forecasts Farm Income To Sink To Seven-Year Low

Profit from U.S. farms will sink to its lowest point since 2009 this year if Agriculture Department predictions are correct. U.S. net farm income is expected to drop for the third-straight year in 2016, dropping 17.2 percent from the 2015 estimate to $66.9 billion, according to projections from the U.S. Department of Agriculture released on Wednesday. The livestock sector is expected to be particularly hard hit. “Nearly all major animal specialties—including dairy, meat animals, and poultry/eggs—are forecast to have lower receipts,” the USDA said in a release. USDA economists forecast cattle and calf receipts to drop nearly 15 percent from last year’s estimate to $11.6 billion...more