Off-Farm Income to Save the Day?
We frequently utilize the USDA’s farm income data to monitor and report about farm economy, especially given the large, rapid decline in farm incomes since 2013 (you can read our latest post on net farm income here). Often included in the USDA’s reports are comments and data about off-farm income. In November, for example, former Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack commented in a press release that higher off-farm income are “expected to stabilize losses due to commodity prices.”
For this week’s post, we decided to consider off-farm income and what impact it has on farm households.