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USDA: Farm Incomes Forecasted To Drop

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The rural economy may take a hit this year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. As Harvest Public Media’s Amy Mayer reports, farm incomes are forecast to drop.

USDA expects net farm income to be down 36 percent this year compared to last.

USDA economist Mitchell Morehart says lower commodity prices and current land values and production expenses make the most recent forecast bleaker than government estimates from last spring.

"We see declines being widespread, in other words there is not a region of the country where incomes are going to go up in 2015 in our current forecast," he says. 

Lower prices for corn, soybeans, wheat and hogs will particularly impact Midwest farms.

Amy Mayer is a reporter based in Ames. She covers agriculture and is part of the Harvest Public Media collaboration. Amy worked as an independent producer for many years and also previously had stints as weekend news host and reporter at WFCR in Amherst, Massachusetts and as a reporter and host/producer of a weekly call-in health show at KUAC in Fairbanks, Alaska. Amy’s work has earned awards from SPJ, the Alaska Press Club and the Massachusetts/Rhode Island AP. Her stories have aired on NPR news programs such as Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Weekend Edition and on Only A Game, Marketplace and Living on Earth. She produced the 2011 documentary Peace Corps Voices, which aired in over 160 communities across the country and has written for The New York Times, Boston Globe, Real Simple and other print outlets. Amy served on the board of directors of the Association of Independents in Radio from 2008-2015.