Washington Agriculture Ranks 50th in Financial Sustainability: What It Means for the Future of Farming

Washington is known around the world for agriculture. From potatoes, apples and wheat to cherries, hops, dairy and wine grapes, our farmers produce some of the highest-quality food and agricultural products in the nation.

But behind that success is a troubling economic reality.

According to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, Washington ranked 50th among all states in 2024 for “returns to operators,” a measure of the income remaining for farm operators after production expenses are accounted for. (Economic Research Service Data)

In other words, Washington may be an agricultural powerhouse when it comes to production, but producing more does not necessarily mean farmers are making money.

The Numbers Tell a Concerning Story

USDA data show that Washington farm production expenses exceeded gross farm receipts in 2024. Updated figures published by Washington State University put gross farm receipts at approximately $14.16 billion, compared with roughly $14.46 billion in production expenses, resulting in returns to operators of approximately negative $302 million in real 2025 dollars. (Washington State University)

That is a dramatic change from just a few years earlier. The same data show returns to operators of approximately $2.9 billion in 2020 and $3.3 billion in 2021, before declining to $2.2 billion in 2022, $972 million in 2023 and then falling below zero in 2024. (Washington State University)

This does not mean every Washington farm lost money in 2024. Agriculture is incredibly diverse, and profitability varies significantly by commodity, region and individual operation.

But statewide, the trend should concern everyone.

How Did We Get Here?

Farmers have always dealt with uncertainty. Weather changes. Commodity prices fluctuate. Export markets open and close. Input prices rise and fall.

What is different today is the number of pressures hitting producers at the same time.

The Washington State Department of Agriculture identifies rising input costs, loss of domestic and foreign markets, labor and workforce concerns, increasing land costs and development pressure, infrastructure challenges, changing climate conditions and declining research funding among the major threats to agricultural viability. (WSDA)

For growers, those challenges show up in very practical ways: higher labor costs, fertilizer and crop protection costs, fuel, electricity, equipment, transportation, interest, insurance and regulatory compliance.

Farmers are price takers in many of these areas. They often have limited ability to pass increased costs on to the next person in the supply chain.

A farmer cannot simply decide that it costs 10% more to grow a crop this year and automatically charge 10% more for it.

Eventually, that equation becomes impossible to balance.

Why This Matters Beyond the Farm

It would be easy to look at Washington's 50th-place ranking as an agricultural problem.

It isn't.

Agricultural viability is a Washington problem.

Washington has more than 32,000 farms, 94% of which are family owned, and agriculture and food processing support more than 164,000 jobs across the state. (WSDA)

Those farms support much more than the people who own them.

They support farmworkers, truck drivers, mechanics, equipment dealers, processors, warehouses, restaurants, exporters, irrigation districts, ports and countless businesses in communities across Washington.

When farms struggle, those impacts ripple through the entire rural economy.

And there is another consequence that is much harder to reverse: once we lose farms and farmland, getting them back is extraordinarily difficult.

Who Will Be the Next Generation of Washington Farmers?

Perhaps the most important question raised by Washington's agricultural viability problem is not what happens next year.

It is what happens 10, 20 or 30 years from now.

Farming has always required significant investment and risk. But what incentive does the next generation have to take over a family farm if the opportunity comes with enormous capital requirements, increasing costs, regulatory uncertainty and little expectation of a reasonable return?

A family farm can survive a difficult year.

It can probably survive several.

But it cannot survive indefinitely without profitability.

If the next generation decides the risk is simply too great, Washington doesn't just lose a business. We lose generations of knowledge, infrastructure and stewardship.

Food Security Starts With Farm Security

There is also a larger conversation we need to have about food security.

We cannot talk seriously about ensuring access to affordable, nutritious food while ignoring whether the people producing that food can afford to stay in business.

A resilient food system requires viable farms.

Washington consumers benefit from having productive agriculture close to home. Local production reduces our dependence on distant or foreign sources and helps maintain the infrastructure necessary to move food from farms to families.

If producing food in Washington becomes economically unsustainable, production will eventually move somewhere else—or disappear altogether.

Washington Agriculture Is Worth Fighting For

The situation is serious, but Washington agriculture has tremendous strengths.

Our state has some of the world's most productive farmland, sophisticated irrigation systems, outstanding agricultural research, innovative growers, strong processing infrastructure and access to domestic and international markets.

WSDA itself describes Washington agriculture as a cornerstone of the state and national economy, with agricultural production valued at more than $12.9 billion and more than $19 billion in food and agricultural products moving through Washington ports each year. (WSDA)

The question isn't whether Washington farmers know how to grow food.

They clearly do.

The question is whether we can create an economic and policy environment in which they can continue to afford to do it.

That means agricultural viability must be considered when decisions are made about labor, energy, water, transportation, taxation, environmental regulations, trade, research and infrastructure.

It does not mean agriculture should be exempt from change or responsibility. It means policymakers should understand the cumulative economic impact of decisions and recognize that even well-intentioned policies have consequences when costs continue to stack on top of one another.

50th Should Be a Wake-Up Call

Washington ranking 50th in returns to farm operators should not simply become another statistic.

It should be a wake-up call.

We should be asking what it will take to move Washington agriculture from simply producing to actually prospering.

Because the future of Washington agriculture isn't only about farmers.

It is about the communities they support, the jobs they create, the open spaces they maintain, the food they produce and the next generation deciding whether farming in Washington still has a future.

Washington's farmers have proven they can produce.

Now we need to make sure they have the opportunity to succeed.

Because a state that cannot sustain its farmers cannot sustain its food system.