2025 is a Challenging Year for Farmers

By Sean Ellis

This is shaping up to be a challenging year for most agricultural commodities in the United States. Except cattle and calves.

The cattle and calves sector is one of the only ag commodity sectors that is doing well in 2025, according to USDA data released Sept. 3. The data from USDA’s Economic Research Service shows U.S. farm cash receipts – this is the money that farmers and ranchers receive directly for their commodity – will be up a total of 5 percent in 2025.

The report – “Farm Income and Financial Forecasts for 2025” – also projects that total net farm income will increase by 40 percent in 2025, compared to 2024. Net farm income is a broad measure of profits.

But that is misleading. The bulk of the increase, both in farm cash receipts and net farm income, is expected to come from the cattle and calves sector, which has been on a roll for a couple of years now.

According to the report, cash receipts from the cattle and calves sector are expected to increase by 13 percent this year relative to last year.