(Spirit Lake)– Area ag producers are looking ahead to the upcoming growing season with a lot of optimism, not only as far as growing conditions, but also as to what may happen with farm income. Gary Wright, a Farm Management Specialist with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach says it’s likely farm income in the region will see a decline…
“Farm income for the 2021 crop year, projections are that it probably will be lower overall, and again as it relates to Dickinson county, assuming that the law of averages applies itself it probably would be lower for the folks sitting in Dickinson, farming in Dickinson as well. We still have very good farm income compared to the 2015 to 19 timeframe, at 112 billion dollars. But it was well off what the 2020 net farm income was. But 48 percent of that was a result of government payments.”
Wright goes on to explain what he expects will happen with those…
“The best information we have now is that probably those numbers are probably going to be much less heading into the 2021 crop year. And on the positive side I would just say that despite that the government going down, my relationship with producers of which I’m one, I farm in Ida county, Iowa, so in addition to this job I’ll just offer I think most of us would just say we’d just assume we do what we do well and that’s produce. And for 2021 the demand continues to be strong. We’ve seen a very unusual post harvest price increase in prices for soybeans and corn, and I just saw a day or two ago about a recap of the meeting we had with China in Alaska and I think the word that was used to describe it by the reporter was caustic. And obviously right now that particular meeting maybe didn’t go as well as what we thought, but China is still a major, major player when it comes to purchasing both soybeans, which historically they’ve been, but also corn as it relates to this upcoming year.”
Wright says there likely will be some volatility, thanks largely to crop carryover and what the weather might do.
