Description: This chart details aggregate gross receipts, expenses, and net farm income for all farms in Wisconsin 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. Since the 1970s, net farm income has declined drastically, in part because expenses consume the bulk of gross receipts from the farm. The chart vividly depicts what is referred to as the "cost-price" squeeze: the situation where farm commodity prices (receipts) are declining in real terms while the cost of production (expenses) has either held steady or increased.

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