Description: This chart details aggregate gross receipts, expenses, and net farm income for all farms in the United States from 1949-2001. Receipts, expenses, and net farm income are adjusted for inflation (to 2000 dollars) in order to portray the real financial situation that farmers experience. Similar to trends in Wisconsin, this chart of the United States illustrates the "cost-price" squeeze found within agriculture: the situation where farm commodity prices (receipts) are declining in real terms while the cost of production (expenses) has either held steady or increased. In 2001, net farm income was less than half of the 1950 level.

Source: ERS/USDA data, various years. Data can be found at http://www.ers.usda.gov