It costed Wisconsin farmers about 8 percent more to farm in 2021 than 2020, and that figure is expected to rise.
Farm production expenditures totaled $11.6 billion in 2021. This was $825 million above the 2020 total expenditures, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.
Feed expense, down 2 percent to $2.24 billion, represented the largest single production expense in Wisconsin in 2021, accounting for 19 percent of the total. Farm services, up 7 percent to $1.58 billion, was the second largest expense and accounted for 14 percent of total expenditures.
The largest percentage increases from last year were for miscellaneous capital expenses (up 80 percent), trucks and autos (up 39 percent), and tractors and self-propelled farm machinery (up 33 percent). The largest percentage decreases from last year were for interest (down 7 percent), rent (down 5 percent), and feed (down 2 percent).
When the 2022 report comes out, it’s likely that the costs will be higher because of fuel prices and fertilizer, says both USDA Wisconsin Statistician Greg Bussler and UW-Madison Ag and Applied Economics Prof. Steven Deller.
“Both can be linked to the Russian actions in Ukraine,” explains Deller.
In 2021, feed costs were down 2 percent from 2020. Deller thinks that trend will reverse.
“I think the costs of animal feed will be higher, again because of the Russian actions,” he says. “The grain markets, which impact animal feed, have been disrupted resulting in higher prices (costs). The opening up of grain exports out of Ukraine will help a little, but not enough.”
Interest fell 7 percent from 2020 — to whether that will be the case in 2022, Deller says it depends on if farmers locked in lines of credit before or after the Federal Reserve started to raise interest rates.
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