Nebraska farm income forecast to hit record this year
By Matt Olberding 
, Managing editor Nebraska Public Media
May 7, 2025, 9:07 a.m. ·
Nebraska farm income is projected to set a record this year, likely boosted by government aid.
The Spring 2025 Nebraska Farm Income Outlook, a collaboration between the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Missouri, forecasts the state’s farmers will make $9.42 billion in 2025.
That would be a 55% increase over 2024 and would break the record of $9.27 billion set in 2023.
Brad Lubben, an agricultural policy specialist at Nebraska, said the report’s strong projections may seem at odds with producer concerns and uncertainty over production, market and policy developments.
“Crop economics and livestock economics seem to be going in different directions at the moment, with the cattle industry helping hold up the state’s farm income prospects,” he said in a statement
Monthly surveys done by Creighton University Economist Ernie Goss have shown continued pessimism about the rural economy in Nebraska and surrounding states.
“The economic outlook for 2025 farm income remains weak, according to bank CEOs, Goss noted in a news release last month announcing the results of the April survey.
But Lubben said that Nebraska farmers, just like those around the U.S., are likely to get a boost from one-time federal payments to offset the effects of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
“It’s one-time government assistance payments that dominate the current financial projections, even as the outlook for what is ahead with markets and policy may be more uncertain than ever,” he said.
Nebraska alone is expected to see a $1.58 billion increase in government payments.
Without those payments, it would likely be a fairly bad year, with corn and soybean receipts projected to fall a combined $170 million. Wheat receipts also are forecast to decline.
On the livestock side, the outlook predicts cattle receipts will be up 2% and hog receipts down 1%. Receipts for broiler poultry, which despite recent grown remains a small part of the state’s livestock economy, are forecast to increase 10%.