Average net income fell 28 percent for Red River Valley farms in the Minnesota and North Dakota Farm Business Management Programs in 2017. The average net farm income was just over $102,000. However, North Dakota State University Extension farm resource management specialist Andy Swenson says the median income was significantly less at $54,000. “What that typically means is very profitable farms are bringing up the average of the entire group.” Soybean yields were down about eight bushels per acre from 2016. Swenson says the cash sales price was actually up 20 cents. “That drop in yield really hurt the soybeans. The net income per acre on cash rent land dropped from $89 per acre to negative $3.” Corn prices were lower as well, dropping from $28 per acre in 2016 to a negative $27 in 2017.
