Corn and soybean harvest outlook remains fuzzy after summer drought

“We will know more in October once the harvest is under way and we have more data,” said Corrine Alexander, a Purdue University agricultural economist who presented the outlook for 2013.

For now, it appears that family farm incomes will vary significantly, and any increases in food prices may be relatively short-lived.

An average family farm earns $91,000 or winds up $92,000 in the red, depending on crop yields, contract prices, and the type of crop insurance a producer purchased, according to Alexander.