2010 North Dakota Agricultural Outlook: Representative Farms, 2010-2019

Net farm income for most representative farms in 2019 is projected to be lower than in 2009. Low-profit farms, which comprise 20% of the farms in the study, may not have financial resiliency to survive without off-farm income. Commodity prices are expected to increase slowly from current levels. Commodity yields are projected to increase at historical trend-line rates and production expenses are expected to return to normal growth rates. Debt-to-asset ratios for all farms except for the low profit farm will decrease slightly throughout the forecast period. Debt-to-asset ratios for the low-profit farms are expected to increase to about 0.70.