Average farm income figures released this week by the Kansas Farm Management Assn. are a vivid illustration of the risks and vagaries of being a farmer.

Last year was a pretty good year statewide, according to the association, which collected data from 1,746 member farming operations in six state regions. The average net farm income statewide in 2004 was $62,604.

That doesn’t mean, of course, that all farms reaped that much profit. While income from cattle and hogs and good fall crops helped farmers in eastern Kansas, operations in the western part of the state were dealing with lingering drought and disappointing fall crops. The northeast region led the state with net income of $77,393; southwest Kansas brought up the rear with $29,927.

Perhaps even more reflective of the life of a farmer, however, is a look at farm income figures over a period of years. Northeast Kansas farmers had a net income of $77,000 in 2004, but they averaged only about half that the year before at just under $39,000. Farmers in northwest Kansas went the other way, dropping from about $60,000 in 2003 to $46,000 in 2004. Southwest Kansas swung from about $37,000 in 2003 to $29,927 in 2004.

The farm management group also supplied a 10-year history for average statewide farm income. Here’s how it went:

¢ 1994 – $28,652

¢ 1995 – $22,353

¢ 1996 – $61,915

¢ 1997 – $59,352

¢ 1998 – $16,778

¢ 1999 – $42,488

¢ 2000 – $39,197

¢ 2001 – $27,995

¢ 2002 – $19,106

¢ 2003 – $51,051

¢ 2004 – $62,604

So, 2004 and 2003 look pretty good, but what about 2002? Things were pretty good in 1996 and 1997, but take a look at 1998.

The problem is that the costs of putting in a crop, nurturing it with fertilizer and maintaining the equipment to harvest it is relatively constant from year to year, although it is steadily edging upward, especially this year with increasing oil prices. The production loan a farmer took out in 2002 was probably about the same as what he or she borrowed in 2003, but there was a significant difference in that farmer’s ability to repay that loan at the end of those two years.

And, in case you’re wondering, those farm income figures include all the payments Kansas farms received from federal farm subsidies. It’s obvious that despite the criticism often leveled at farm programs, Kansas farmers certainly aren’t getting rich off them.

It’s easy to see why many farmers see no need to head to Las Vegas. They gamble every day on the weather, the costs of production and the rise and fall of the markets. It’s the state’s good fortune that dedicated farmers still are willing to take that risk to support the Kansas economy and contribute to the nation’s food supply.