Each January, University of Wisconsin agricultural economists and farm leaders gather in Madison, Wis., to look back at the previous year and look forward to the coming year at the annual Wisconsin Agricultural Outlook Forum. This year’s event was held Jan. 23 at Union South on the UW-Madison campus.
“U.S. net farm income in 2023 was down 20% from the record high in 2022, but it was still 31% above average,” said UW-Madison ag economist Paul Mitchell, who is director of the Renk Agribusiness Institute.
While cash receipts for beef were up 16.5% in 2023 over 2022, the rest of the farm commodity prices were down in 2023 compared to 2022, Mitchell said.
“Dairy cash receipts were down 18.3% in 2023, and corn was down 10.5%,” he explained.
Drought impact
Mitchell spoke about the drought that gripped much of the state from late May through August, and through September in southwest Wisconsin and other areas scattered across the state.
“Half the corn and soybeans were in rough shape last summer in Wisconsin,” Mitchell noted. “We had poorer-looking crops in Wisconsin than the U.S.”
According to USDA, U.S. corn yielded an average of 177 bushels per acre last year, which is a record.