Missouri farm income saw large increase in 2020 despite pandemic

Large government payments helped 2020 Missouri net farm income match or exceed the 2014 record of $3.4 billion, according to Abigail Meffert, senior research associate with the University of Missouri Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI).

Missouri’s outlook falls in line with the U.S. Agricultural Market Outlook, a summary of 10-year baseline projections presented March 26 at the annual Abner W. Womack Missouri Agriculture Outlook Conference. See the full report at www.fapri.missouri.edu.

At the Womack conference, FAPRI director Pat Westhoff reported that U.S. farm income in 2020 increased to its highest level since 2014 due to large government payments and a rebound of commodity prices in the final months of the year.

Meffert projects that Missouri net income will fall in 2021 and 2022 due to reduced government payments and higher production costs, despite higher crop and livestock receipts. Projected income still exceeds the low levels of 2014-2018.

Strong prices and returns are pushing farmers to plant more acres in soybean, Missouri’s dominant crop. After the floods of 2019, Missouri soybean acreage rebounded in 2020 and may increase further in 2021, perhaps exceeding 6 million acres for the first time. FAPRI projects that soybean acreage in the U.S. will exceed 90 million acres, 7% more than last year.

See more in this weeks Boone County Journal