(NAFB.com) – USDA’s Economic Research Service forecasts inflation-adjusted U.S. net cash farm income, defined as gross cash income minus cash expenses, to increase by $30.6 billion from 2024 to $193.7 billion in 2025. U.S. net farm income, a broader measure of farm sector profitability, is forecast to increase by $37.7 billion to $180.1 billion in 2025. The projected growth comes after net farm income declined in 2023 and is forecast to have declined in 2024. Most of the projected increase in 2025 corresponds to an increase in direct government payments to farmers, projected to increase from $9.6 billion in 2024 to $42.4 billion this year. This increase is expected largely because of supplemental and ad hoc disaster assistance to farmers and ranchers from the American Relief Act of 2025, which became law in December 2024 and authorized assistance payments to producers and payments for losses related to natural disasters in 2023 and 2024.