by Karl Plume, Reuters
U.S. farm incomes are expected to drop 38 percent in 2015, the steepest year-on-year drop since 1983, due to lower crop and livestock prices, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service (ERS) said on Tuesday.
Incomes are forecast to drop for a second straight year to $55.9 billion, which if realized would be the lowest level since 2002, signaling further pressure on sellers of agricultural inputs, equipment and land.
The updated forecast was down from an August estimate for $58.3 billion and 55 percent below a record $123.3 billion in 2013 when near record-high crop prices boosted farming profits.
Shares of farm equipment makers such as U.S. market leader Deere & Co have plunged this year in response to declining sales during the farm economy downturn. Seed and agrochemical company Monsanto Co announced in October it was cutting 2,600 jobs and restructuring operations to reduce costs amid slumping commodity markets.
Farm income was down mostly due to lower crop and livestock prices, which cut crop receipts at U.S. farms by 8.7 percent to $18.2 billion and livestock receipts by 12 percent to $25.4 billion, the ERS report said.
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Source: Reuters
