Income for Wisconsin farms is expected to fall again this year.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture projected the country's net farm income to be $59.5 billion in 2018, a 6.7 percent decrease from 2017's forecast.
While net farm income was up slightly last year, 2018 is expected to be the fifth year of lower income levels after a record high in 2013 at $123.8 billion. If the forecast is accurate, this year will have the lowest U.S. net farm income since 2006.
"It’s a challenging forecast," said Jim Holte, president of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation. "We’ve dealt with cyclic (price) situations in the past and it's probably just a circumstance of our business. But this is a difficult time for many farmers."