The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) has released its annual report detailing the nation's farm production expenditures for 2023. The report indicates that total farm production expenditures in the United States have reached $481.9 billion, marking a 6.5 percent increase from the $452.5 billion recorded in 2022.
The four largest expenditure categories—feed, livestock, poultry and related expenses, farm services, and labor—totaled $238.7 billion and accounted for 49.6 percent of total expenditures in 2023. Specifically, expenditures on feed represented 16.6 percent, livestock, poultry, and related expenses 11.6 percent, farm services 11.3 percent, and labor 10.1 percent of the total.
On average, U.S. farm operations spent $255,047 per farm in 2023, up 12.4 percent from $226,885 in 2022. The average expenditures per farm for key categories were $42,340 on feed, $29,479 on livestock, poultry, and related expenses, $28,844 on farm services, and $25,669 on labor.
Fuel expenses amounted to $16.5 billion, with diesel being the largest sub-component at $10.9 billion, accounting for 66.1 percent of total fuel expenditures. Diesel expenditures decreased by 4.4 percent from the previous year. Gasoline expenditures were $2.8 billion (down 5.7 percent), LP gas $1.8 billion (down 15.5 percent), and other fuel $1 billion (unchanged).
The $1,000,000 to $4,999,999 economic sales class contributed the most to the total expenditures, with expenses of $172 billion, which is 35.7 percent of the U.S. total and up 15.6 percent from 2022. The $5,000,000 and over class followed with $147.6 billion, up 9.4 percent from the previous year.
Expenditures on crop farms increased to $252.5 billion (up 8.2 percent), while livestock farms saw expenditures rise to $229.4 billion (up 4.7 percent). The largest expenditures for crop farms were labor ($36.1 billion), farm services ($32.1 billion), fertilizer, lime, and soil conditioners ($31.0 billion), and rent ($29.7 billion). Combined crop inputs amounted to $75.1 billion. For livestock farms, the largest expenditures were on feed ($77.7 billion), livestock, poultry, and related expenses ($53.6 billion), and farm services ($22.4 billion).
The Midwest region led the country in total farm expenditures with $151.2 billion, followed by the Plains ($113.7 billion), West ($107.0 billion), Atlantic ($59.9 billion), and South ($50.0 billion).
Among individual states, California had the highest expenditures at $52.7 billion, up 14.9 percent from 2022, followed by Iowa ($37.9 billion), Texas ($30.6 billion), Nebraska ($28.5 billion), Minnesota ($25.0 billion), and Kansas ($24.2 billion).
