It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who knows how to use a calculator that net farm income in 2013 and 2014 will likely be well below the record levels of the previous three years. The chart below was prepared by Gary Schnitkey from the University of Ilinois Extension Service*. It reflects operator and farmland returns for four geographic regions of Illinois.WPI has written often about just how good the past decade has been for production agriculture in the U.S. and this chart does a nice job of reflecting that. The prosperity has come with some costs, including:
Record high land prices that have quadrupled over the last four years to what seem to be astronomical levels today. $8,000-$10,000 per acre land in North Dakota? $15,000-$20,00...
As predicted, the Federal Reserve held rates steady at the last meeting before the midterm elections, likely in part because of the election (see WPI 19 October and 22 September). The decision comes at the tail end of a midterm election cycle that has been marked by the two parties campaigning...
Key Takeaways: WPI’s new EU rapeseed crushing margin models point to weaker processing returns over the next four months due to higher rapeseed procurement costs and weaker product values. Statistical forecasts call for German crushing margins to decline from €181/MT to €...
Key Takeaways: The tariff burden rose sharply in 2025 and 2026: the effective rate on imports in HTS Chapters 1–24 increased from 1.53 percent in 2024 to 6.11 percent in 2025, before averaging 5.68 percent in January–August 2026. Headline rates tell only part of the story: exemptio...
