Quarterly Estimates of Realized Gross and Net Farm Income

Realized net income of farm operators reached a postwar high of 16.8 billion dollars in .1947 and declined to a postwar low of 12.4 billion dollars in 1950. These estimates are for calendar years. On a quarterly basis, in terms of seasonally adjusted annual rates, the postwar high was 17.9 billion dollars in the first quarter of 1947, and the postwar low was 11.7 billion dollars in the second quarter of 1950. Thus, farmers' net income actually declined 35 percent during a period of a little more than 8 years as compared with a drop of only 26 percent indicated by the annual data. It is evident that the annual estimates do not measure the full swing from high to low. To overcome this handicap in the historical record of farm income, and to provide a foundation for more frequent and more up-to-date appraisal of the farm income situation in the future, this paper presents a new quarterly series on gross and net realized income of farm operators in terms of seasonally adjusted annual rates for 1929-53. These estimates will be published regularly henceforth in The Farm Income Situation