U.S. Farmers Squeezed by Rising Costs as China Trade War Escalates
U.S. Farmers Squeezed by Rising Costs as China Trade War Escalates
(Bloomberg) -- U.S. farmers face rising production costs as bumper harvests and a trade war with China erode cash from crop and livestock sales.
Total production expenses in 2018 will rise 4.2 percent to $369.1 billion from a year earlier, partly because of higher fuel and labor costs, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Friday in a report. That marks the highest since 2014 . Net farm income is expected to drop for the fourth time in five years.
Cash receipts from commodity sales are expected to rise 0.7 percent to $374.9 billion even after including government aid in response to trade disruptions. Cash receipts from crops are used by companies including Deere & Co., the world’s largest farm-equipment maker, as an important indicator for demand.
Punch-Drunk U.S. Farmers Now Facing Fertilizer Inflation: Chart
--With assistance from Dominic Carey.
To contact the reporter on this story: Shruti Date Singh in Chicago at ssingh28@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Attwood at jattwood3@bloomberg.net, Patrick McKiernan, Steven Frank
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