Farm income in 2021 landed U.S. ag producers with more dollars than expected. Even through pandemic-related challenges, farmers grew record-breaking crops and sold them for prices much higher than the last decade average. A University of Wisconsin-Madison agribusiness professional says farm income last year is predicted to be “well above” the 20-year average. In fact, income grew 19% over 2020 values and was 24% higher than the 20-year average. Though dairy income was relatively steady, corn, soybeans, beef, broilers and hogs all saw above-average revenue.

Important to remember, government payments played a role in overall income and a major drop off in these payments is expected for 2022. And despite larger income, record-breaking input costs could put also ding in net profit. Farmers will need to find ways to create efficiencies in 2022 and take advantage of market upswings.

Read more on overall farm income here.