Financial Characteristics Of North Dakota Farms 2005-2006

The performance of over 500 North Dakota farms, 2005-2006, is summarized using 16 financial measures. Farms are categorized by geographic region, farm type, farm size, gross cash sales, farm tenure, net farm income, debt-to-asset, and age of farmer to analyze relationships between financial performance and farm characteristics. Five-year averages, 2001-2005, and farm financial trends for the 1997-2006 period are also presented. In 2006, median and average acreage per farm was 1,966 and 2,386, respectively. Median and average cash farm revenue was $281,751 and $361,418, respectively. Financial performance is volatile. Year-to-year changes in median net farm income within regions and farm types averaged 50 percent from 1997 to 2006. Median net farm income in 2006 was the lowest in five years, $35,980, and ranged from $83,970 in the Red River Valley to only $689 in the west region which was the lowest for any region over the 1997-2006 period. In 1999, 2000, 2003 and 2004 the rate of return on equity exceeded the rate of return on assets, which indicates that debt capital was employed profitably. Interest expense as a percent of gross revenue improved from 1997-2004, but increased in 2005 and 2006 because of higher debt and interest rates. The Red River Valley and crop farms had stronger profitability, solvency and repayment capacity from 1997 to 2006 than other regions and farm types, respectively, except in 2005 when the south central region and livestock farms had better performance. Farms with sales less than $100,000 were over twice as likely to have debt-to-asset higher than 70 percent than were farms with sales greater than $500,000. Farms that own some crop land, but less than 40 percent are more likely to be crop farms, farm more acreage, have larger sales, and be more profitable. As expected, solvency and percent of crop land owned increased with farmer age.