2024 A Mixed Bag For Idaho Agriculture

Published online: Jan 17, 2025 Articles Sean Ellis, Idaho Farm Bureau Federation
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Boise, Idaho – A University of Idaho report shows that 2024 was a mixed bag for Idaho’s 22,000-plus farms and ranches.

Total farm-gate receipts for Idaho crop farmers fell an estimated 6 percent in 2024 compared to 2023, while livestock receipts increased by 11 percent.

That’s according to U of I’s annual The Financial Condition of Idaho Agriculture report, which was released to legislators Jan. 6.

The report estimates that Idaho’s farmers and ranchers brought in a total of $11.3 billion in farm-gate receipts in 2024. Farm-gate receipts are what a farmer or rancher receives directly for their commodity.

If realized, that $11.3 billion total would be up 4 percent from 2023 and a record for Idaho, surpassing the $11.28 billion total in 2022.

While presenting highlights of the report, FCIA co-author Brett Wilder, a U of I agricultural economist, told legislators that $11.3 billion total seems like a counterfeit number because a lot of crop farmers in Idaho faced stiff financial challenges in 2024.

Idaho’s livestock sector, which includes the dairy and cattle and calves industries, generally had a much better year than the state’s crop farmers, he said, and he believes that will continue to be the story in 2025.

“I am fairly confident we will continue to see strong cash receipts in the livestock sector, particularly in the cow-calf sector,” he said. “The crop sector will continue to be squeezed.”

According to the FCIA report, total farm-gate receipts from the state’s livestock sector are estimated at a record $7 billion in 2024, up 11 percent from 2023.

Total receipts from the crop sector, on the other hand, are estimated to have decreased 6 percent in 2024, to $4.3 billion.

Total farm-gate revenue in 2024 was down for most of Idaho’s top crops, with the exception of sugarbeets.

According to estimates in the FCIA report, farm-gate receipts for potatoes in Idaho totaled $1.25 billion in 2024, down 6 percent from 2023.

Receipts for Idaho wheat totaled $564 million in 2024, down 7 percent from 2023, hay receipts totaled $448 million, down 27 percent, and barley receipts totaled $398 million, down 6 percent.

Farm-gate receipts from sugarbeets were up 1 percent, to $470 million.

For all “other” crops, receipts were down 6 percent.

As those numbers show, 2024 was a tough year financially for many crop farmers. While farm-gate crop prices dropped significantly in some cases, the cost of production for farmers remained close to the same.

Total farm and ranch production costs in Idaho were estimated at $9.1 billion in 2024, down only slightly from a record $9.3 billion in 2023.

“It was a really bad year last year,” said Downey hay farmer Fred Burmester. “The commodity prices dropped a lot for us … and our production costs were close to the same.”

Rockland farmer Cory Kress said prices for the crops he produces dropped 35-50 percent last year compared with the previous year.

“Commodity prices dropped tremendously on (the 2024) crop year,” he said. Meanwhile, “Input costs were only down marginally.”

High interest rates have made farming more difficult, Kress added. “That’s the real killer we haven’t had in quite some time.”

According to the FCIA report, interest expenses for farmers and ranchers in Idaho were up 5 percent in 2024. According to U of projections, total interest expense for farmers and ranchers in Idaho last year was $647 million, up 61 percent since 2021.

“Interest rates are actually down a little bit year over year, but we are expecting higher interest expense and that means we’re carrying more debt (and) paying more interest on that debt,” Wilder told Idaho Farm Bureau Federation.

Burmester said he took out an operating loan at 9.2 percent interest last year. “It’s going to take years to pay that back.”

Kress said 2025 is looking like it will be another difficult year financially for farmers.

“I wouldn’t call it a great year for farmers last year and this year doesn’t look to be any better,” he said.

Burmester is hoping farm-gate commodity prices take an upward swing in 2025, but he’s not holding his breath.

“Usually, when (hay prices) dump like that, it takes a few years to work its way back up,” he said.

Idaho livestock producers, however, are likely hoping 2025 is similar to 2024 when it comes to farm-gate commodity prices.

The cow-calf industry is continuing to experience record or near-record beef cattle prices, and milk prices took a turn for the better during the latter part of last year and are holding steady.

“We are glad to see that the state’s dairy sector ended the year on a positive note considering the scare, and challenges, that avian flu created,” said Idaho Farm Bureau Federation President Bryan Searle.

According to the FCIA report, milk receipts in Idaho totaled $3.8 billion last year, up 11 percent from 2023, and receipts from cattle and calves totaled a record $2.9 billion, up 10 percent.

“For us, we did really well on our cattle side,” said Jefferson County farmer Alan Clark, a crop and cattle producer. “That’s where all of our profit came from.”

Clark is expecting 2025 to be an even more difficult year on the crop side.

“It will definitely be a tougher year,” he said. “We’re going to (try to increase) yields to try to make up for it, but you can only do so much there. If we weren’t diversified with our cows, it would be tough.”

According to the FCIA report, the modest decrease in production expense was mainly due to slight decreases in the cost for fertilizers, pesticides, fuel and feed purchases.

Those declines were partially offset by higher interest expenses and an estimated 10 percent increase in the cost of livestock and poultry purchases.

“Most other categories were essentially flat last year,” the report states.

The report also estimates that federal government payments to Idaho farmers decreased 14 percent.

During his presentation to lawmakers, Wilder said another U of I report found that agriculture in Idaho is directly and indirectly responsible for about $38 billion in sales per year, which is 17 percent of the state’s economic output. That report also found agriculture is responsible for one in nine jobs in Idaho and 13 percent of the state’s gross domestic product.

Idaho is a (relatively) small economy, but ag is very important to us,” he said.