Data from the U.S. Economic Research Service’s Food Dollar Series provides a clear picture of how consumer food spending is distributed across the U.S. food supply chain. The latest estimates show that crop producers capture about 2.5 cents of every food dollar, down from 2.9 cents in 2023. Livestock producers receive about 3.3 cents, up from three cents a year earlier. Combined, U.S. farmers and ranchers account for about 5.8 cents of the total value added in the food system, down from 5.9 cents in 2023.
In 2024, farmers received 11.8 cents of every dollar spent on domestically produced food, down from 12.1 cents in 2023, a 2.5 percent decrease year over year. The remaining 88.2 cents of the food dollar went toward the marketing bill, which includes costs associated with food processing, transportation, packaging, wholesaling, retailing, and food service. This shift illustrates how an increasing share of food spending is driven by services and supply chain activities rather than farming.
-NAFB