NDSU Extension’s latest Agriculture by the Numbers shows a stark contrast in net farm incomes between Red River Valley farms versus Northern Plains farms outside the valley. Extension Ag Finance Specialist Bryon Parman says much of that comes from the tough year for sugarbeet farmers. ” It wasn’t a great year for row crop farmers across North Dakota out of the Valley, but because of those losses in beets last year, it was tougher for valley farmers.” Another strong year for ranchers further skewed that outlook. “If you look at the average net income across North Dakota, it’s a little bit clouded by the fact that our livestock oh producers did pretty well the last couple of years. So, when you look at net income, it looks a little bit better than reality if you factor in that many of our producers are row crop only farmers and the row crop only farmers had a much tougher year.
