Feed
One of only two expenditure categories that increased last year was livestock, poultry and related expenses, on which the producers spent $45.4 billion last year.
 
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S. — U.S. farmers spent $362.8 billion on agricultural production in 2015, down 8.8% from $397.6 billion in 2014, reversing a long-term trend of growing costs, according to the Farm Production Expenditures report, published Aug. 4 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).

 

The four largest expenditures in the United States totaled $177.3 billion and accounted for 48.9% of total expenditures in 2015, according to NASS.

Feed and farm services, the two largest expenditure categories for U.S. farmers in 2014, both declined 8.2% in 2015. Producers spent $58.5 billion on animal feed, and $41.6 billion on farm services in 2015, NASS said.

One of only two expenditure categories that increased last year was livestock, poultry and related expenses, on which the producers spent $45.4 billion last year, an increase of 0.7% from 2014. The other was miscellaneous capital expenditure at $700 million, an increase of 16.7%.

Per farm, the average expenditures totaled $176,181 in 2015, down 8% from $191,500 in 2014, according to NASS. Last year, an average U.S. farm spent $28,408 on feed, $22,047 on livestock, poultry and related expenses, $20,202 on farm services, and $15,443 on labor, NASS said.

Regionally, the U.S. Midwest region contributed the most to U.S. total expenditures with expenses of $113.1 billion in 2015, followed by the U.S. Plains at $93.5 billion, the U.S. West at $74.9 billion, the U.S. Atlantic at $44.2 billion, and the U.S. South at $37.1 billion.

The entire Farm Production Expenditures 2015 summary is available online at http://bit.ly/FarmExpenditures