New Study: Iowa Farmers’ Income Fell 53% in Three Years

Farmers in a key agricultural state saw their incomes plummet over a three-year period, according to a newly released study.

What Iowa farmers have faced is illustrative of what some of their counterparts in other states have experienced since the post-COVID boom earlier this decade.

The headline number was 53%.

That was the amount of net income that fell for farmers between 2022 and 2024, according to the study released by the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, Iowa State University’s Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, and the Iowa Bankers Association.

Farmers’ decline in net income over that three-year period of 53% demonstrated how difficult the economics of farming became for Iowa farmers. Crop production that set or neared records pushed supplies with exports unable to absorb the excess.

Commodity prices failed to keep up with increased costs for seed and fertilizer.

The U.S./Israeli war with Iran had not yet started during the timeframe that this study covered. But Russia’s attack on Ukraine did. The latter has now been going on for four years, further straining supply chains and impacting grain and fertilizer.

RELATED: This American Farmland Owner report laid out the finances that make competing with Brazilian farmers more difficult.

Farmers facing financial vulnerability

Another troubling number for Iowa farmers is 19%.

The number shows that nearly one in five mid-to-large farms are considered financially viable. That is nearly double the number of farmers at that economically struggling level compared to 2022.

One stronger positive trend for Iowa agriculture, according to the study, is livestock. Cattle herds at their lowest levels in nearly seven decades help to lift up prices for ranchers.

RELATED: This is what enabled an Oregon cattle ranch to sell for $5 million earlier this year.

Fuel prices rise again

Renewed fighting between the United States and Iran pushed up oil prices again. The volatility since the war began in February has added further turmoil to the agricultural markets by increasing the cost of fuel and fertilizer.

Farm Aid, the nonprofit organization to support family farmers formed in 1985 by musicians Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and John Mellencamp, added its concerns for the war’s impact on agriculture.

“As a result, farmers are once again in the same position they were: dealing with rising costs and potentially limited supply for two of the major inputs they need not just to plant, sustain and harvest their products, but to get them to market as well,” the organization stated on its website. “As with all the challenges farmers face, this situation will likely keep changing.”

Farm Aid said that the war has forced some farmers to consider alternatives because of higher costs and supply chain strains. The organization is encouraging farmers to take a nitrogen survey through the Land Stewardship Project as a way to promote changes that could improve soil health.

RELATED: A survey released this spring showed that most farmers reported that they could no longer afford fertilizer prices. Some fertilizer costs increased 25-40% after the U.S. began military strikes on Iran.