Nebraska net farm income projected to increase by 42% in 2025
By Brian Beach 
, Reporter Nebraska Public Media
Nov. 4, 2025, 4 p.m. ·
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Despite tariff concerns and low grain prices, Nebraska agricultural producers are on track for a good year overall.
Net farm income in the state is projected to reach $8.42 billion in 2025, up from $5.94 billion last year, according to the Fall 2025 Farm Income Outlook from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Missouri.
Increased livestock receipts and government payments represent the bulk of the additional income, which were enough to offset lower crop receipts and production expenses.
Jay Parsons, who directs the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Center for Agricultural Profitability, said not everyone is feeling the higher income equally.
“If you're a crop producer, you don't have cattle, that's certainly not exactly what you're experiencing,” he said. “You're experiencing low prices and tight margins.”
Parsons said recent trade deals have helped offset earlier losses due to a lack of international markets, but prices remain low.
“Tariffs have affected some export activity,” he said. “Everybody’s heard about China not buying soybeans, but now they've agreed to buy some, so that's getting priced back into the marketplace.”
The government shutdown has kept some disaster relief payments to farmers from being sent out, but the projection assumes those will be sent out once the government reopens.
In 2026, overall incomes are projected to fall slightly, primarily due to lower levels of government payments, which can be hard to predict.
“Most of the government payments are tied to conditions not being at least average,” he said. “If you look at any project, anybody making projections on farm income out into the future, they don't ever assume that a government payment is going to come through, because that would essentially assume that the average isn't going to happen.”
Production expenses and crop insurance indemnities are expected to increase, hurting net farm income, but crop receipts and livestock receipts are both projected to rise in 2026, leading to a slight decline of net farm income to $8.37 billion.