Strong prices and lower costs brought record profits to many Minnesota livestock producers in 2014, while crop growers saw earnings deteriorate for the second consecutive year. Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Center for Excellence in Agriculture Director Keith Olander says it wasn’t a surprise that livestock producers had a profitable year in 2014.
The median income for crop growers was just over $ 17,000, while livestock producers had a median income of just over $ 138,000. Olander says he expects beef prices to continue strong and that’s helped by the resurgence on building back up of the cattle herds.
Olander says farm incomes are cyclical, and the livestock end of agriculture is rebounding from several tough years in the early 2000s.
Minnesota State Colleges and Universities and University of Minnesota Extension partnered in doing the study.
