WASHINGTON – After a brief reprieve in 2009, last year farm production expenditures resumed an upward trend. In 2010, U.S. farmers reported spending $289 billion to produce agricultural products, up from $287.4 billion in the prior year. The Farm Production Expenditures 2010 summary released on Aug. 2 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) provides national, regional and Crop and Livestock farm expenditures.
Highlights from the 2010 summary include:
• Farm expenditures of $45.4 billion for feed, $35.7 billion on farm services and $27.4 billion on labor expenses. These three categories account for over a third of all expenses incurred by producers in 2010.
• Livestock farm expenditures of $130.6 billion, which is up 1.3 percent from the previous year.
• Crop farm expenditures of $158.4 billion, a slight decrease from 2009.
• The largest increase in expenditures (7.3 percent) on southern region farms.
• An increase of 1.5 percent in farm expenditures reported by Atlantic region farms.
• A significant decrease in the amount spent on farm improvements and construction. Producers spent $12.6 billion on these expenditures, $1.5 billion less than in 2009.
The Farm Production Expenditures summary provides the official estimates for production input costs on U.S. farms and ranches. These estimates are based on the results of the nationwide Agricultural Resource Management Survey, conducted annually by NASS. The Farm Production Expenditures 2010 summary and all NASS reports are available online at www.nass.usda.gov.