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News
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Oregon net farm income takes large drop in 2009
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9/15/2010
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Article Content Suggested lead
Oregon farmers and ranchers took more than a 40 percent pay cut last year, according to recent statistics on net farm income:
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Audio 01
Reflecting the US economy in general, the bottom line in 2009 for Oregon's farmers and ranchers looks pretty dismal, according to Brent Searle of the Oregon Department of Agriculture:
SEARLE: "Net farm income dropped 41 percent from 2008 and the lowest in seven years, since 2002. Pretty tough on farmers. I think if any of us think about taking a 40-plus percent cut in pay, that's pretty staggering." :17
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Audio 02
The total net farm income last year of just under 563 million dollars is a far cry from the 1.3 billion dollar mark of 2004. Surprisingly, many expenses incurred by farm operators decreased last year, but the prices paid for nearly every commodity were way down, which offset any good news about expenses. There is hope for this year:
SEARLE: "I think 2010 will be better than 2009. We're seeing signs of stabilization in the dairy industry and spikes a little bit in some of the grains from events around the world. So there are signs that some of those prices have stabilized." :17
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Oregon's net farm income number reflects the rest of the country. But the ag economy is cyclical, and it could be that things have bottomed out for this latest cycle. In Salem, I'm Bruce Pokarney.
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SEARLE says the 41 percent decrease in net farm income in Oregon shows that the ag economy is cyclical:
"That's the first time it has dropped below the billion dollar mark since 2003 for net farm income. So, pretty significant drop." :08
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Additional audio: Audio 04
SEARLE says the expense side of Oregon agriculture's balance sheet actually showed a decrease last year, but that was more than offset by the extremely poor prices paid to producers for their crops and livestock:
"When we calculate net farm income, we look at both the income side and the expense side, or the cost to produce. Both were down but the value of production, or the prices growers receive, were down even more. So that was the biggest impact on the net farm income." :18
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Full story
http://oregon.gov/ODA/news/100915income.shtml |
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