The United States Department of Agriculture has released new data that shows nearly half of all farmers and their spouses reported having an off the farm job in 2018. Nebraska Farm Bureau Senior Economist Jay Rempe is not surprised by that report and he says there are two factors that likely led to that including the ability for farmers to obtain less costly health insurance with their off the farm job.
He says off the farm jobs not only provide extra income for the producer but also likely pays more than what they’re getting from their farm or ranch.
Rempe says Nebraska’s producers follow the national trend in terms of those employed off the farm.
The USDA noted in their data that 88 percent of those farmers with an annual gross farm income of $350,000 were working off the farm. It also said that 72 percent of those producers that had an annual gross cash farm income of $1 million or more were working off the farm. Rempe says that’s a bit surprising.
About 40 percent of all principal operators who work off the farm say farm related financial stress is the reason for them working off the farm.
