It takes brains, dedication and determination to run a farm of any kind. It also costs money, and, in 2013, farmers spent even more than they did the year before.
The USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Survey (NASS) estimated total farm production expenditures for 2013 to be $367.3 billion. That was up 2 percent from $360.1 billion in 2012.
Nearly all expenditure items rose in price from the year before. The biggest expense, feed, escalated 17 percent. That was followed by farm services, including custom cropping, veterinary work, transportation, marketing and other general business expenses, which were up 10.6 percent. Expenses related to purchasing and leasing livestock were up 9.3 percent, and labor had climbed 8.7 percent.
This data was collected from almost 34,000 farms and ranches of varying size and scale across the nation. The average expenditure per farm of $175,270 was up 2.3 percent from 2012 (see graph below). On average, these U.S. farms spent $29,779 on feed, $18,612 on farm services, $16,321 on livestock, poultry and related expenses, and $15,271 on labor.
The largest expenditure for the livestock producers was feed, accounting for 34.7 percent of all expenses. For the crop farmers, rent constituted 12.8 percent of their expenses, followed by fertilizer, lime and soil conditioners at 11.5 percent.
The Midwest region contributed the most to total farm expenditures in the U.S. with expenses of $118.5 billion, 32.3 percent of the nation's total. That was up from $114.8 billion in 2012.
California was the state with the most farm expenditures, with expenses of $36.6 billion. That was up 8.6 percent from the year before and represented 10.0 percent of the nation's total. Iowa came in second with $29.8 billion in expenses (8.1 percent of the nation's total) followed by Texas at $24.2 billion and Nebraska with $20.3 billion.
