Farm Income Forecast, 2013
Statement by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on 2013 Farm Income Forecast
In late August, United States Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack issued a statement on the 2013 farm income forecast from USDA’s Economic Research Service. Vilsack highlights the second highest inflation-adjusted income increase since 1973.
Readers, what do you think of Vilsack’s statement? Read Vilsack’s words below:
This week’s forecast of a $6.8 billion increase in net farm income is a testament to the resilience and productivity of U.S. farmers and ranchers, and a further sign of the positive momentum they have achieved over the past five years. A six percent increase in this key measure would be the second highest inflation-adjusted amount since 1973, even as agriculture has worked hard to recover from an historic drought and other disasters. I am confident that our farmers and ranchers will continue to show the determination and innovation that has been the hallmark of American agriculture for generations. To help continue their strong momentum, producers and rural communities are counting on Congress to provide a comprehensive, long-term Food, Farm and Jobs Bill that will lend certainty to Federal farm policy – as well as passage of a commonsense immigration reform measure to ensure a stable and dependable agricultural workforce in the years to come.
Vilsacks statement can be viewed on USDA’s website here. Highlights from the 2013 Farm Income Forecast are available here.
Your Privacy Choices
This seems like a case study for “What’s Wrong with America”. Let me be clear, I’m not a farmer although I’m considering it. Mr. Vilsack was appointed to his current position by President Obama and has strong ties to Monsanto. From reading Mr. Vilsack’s statement I wonder if he even read the Farm Income Forecast. The report is not an easy read; it’s politically charged and couched in economic double-speak. But there are some facts that made it through the editing. One of them in the second paragraph states that production expenses are expected to be at all-time highs. Profit margins for the average farmer are getting squeezed even tighter.
Sorry folks, I should proof what I post…a projection is not a fact.
May I just say what a comfort to discover somebody that
truly knows what they are discussing online. You actually
understand how to bring a problem to light and make it important.
More and more people ouvht to red this and understand this
side of the story. It’s surprising you’re not more poplar because youu definitely possess the gift.