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Iowa’s farm income appears to be higher, but farm values have declined according to a recent report from Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. The 2018 Iowa Farm Costs and Returns report compares income and cost data from 600 Iowa producers. The average accrual net farm income increased to $58,832, an increase of 6% in 2018.

At the same time, the average value of total farm assets declined by 6% or $147,471 and the average value of farm net worth declined by 7%, or $121,876. The debt to asset ratio reached its highest level since 2009 at 24%. And the average current asset-to-debt ratio increased for the first time since 2012, to 3.14 in 2018, but is still below the 10-year average of 4.21. The report only looked at farms with sales of $100,000 or more. Also, the farm size declined by an average of 21 acres to an average farm size of 668 acres, the lowest since 2013.