Idaho 2009 Farm Net Income Down 47%

Drop represents the largest annual cash income decline in four decades.

Compiled by staff

Published: Jan 11, 2010

Net Idaho farm income, the ultimate measure of Idaho ag performance, fell 47% to $1.018 billion from 2008's $1.904 billion.

Idaho agriculture's projected cash receipts for last year fell 17% to $5.4 billion from the 2008 level, reports a new University of Idaho release.

It was the single largest yearly decline in 40 years, reflecting a tough year for the state's dairy, livestock and some crop sectors.

Even though much of the double-digit increases from the prior two years disappeared, receipts remain 16.6% above 2006. However, expenses rose 27% during the same time period reveals UI's The Financial Condition of Idaho Agriculture: 2009 Projections, released in early January by the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.

"Agriculture as a diverse industry is a strong stabilizing force in Idaho's overall economy," says college dean John Hammel, "while individual growers experience volatility in the commodity market prices and increasing costs of inputs, both factors that affect their net incomes."

Farm jobs, also a part of ag's stabilizing impact on state economics, may suffer as the grower struggles to adjust expenses. But while there is room for labor force reductions, that cutback can only go so far, since cattle must continue to be fed and crops tended.

Net farm income showed industry volatility in recent years. In 2006 net dropped 20%, but in 2007 surged 71% and in 2008 rose 19%.

Higher cash receipts for sugarbeets, barley, potatoes, onions and greenhouse and nursery crops helped keep the 2009 income figures from worse results. Crop returns were higher than those of Idaho livestock for the first time in nine years. Livestock receipts were down 23%.