The U.S. farmer’s share of the American food dollar continues to shrink, underscoring how little of what consumers spend at the grocery store or restaurant makes its way back to the farm.
According to an American Farm Bureau market intel article Monday, new data from the USDA Economic Research Service show farmers received 11.8 cents of every dollar spent on domestically produced food in 2024, down from 12.1 cents in 2023. That means 88.2 cents went to the so-called marketing bill — the costs tied to processing, transportation, packaging, wholesaling, retailing and food service.
The figures highlight a long-running shift in the food system, where a growing portion of consumer spending is absorbed after products leave the farm gate, the farm bureau said.
An industry group breakdown paints an even starker picture. Crop producers captured about 2.5 cents of every food dollar in 2024, down from 2.9 cents a year earlier, while livestock producers received roughly 3.3 cents, up from 3 cents. Combined, farmers and ranchers accounted for about 5.8 cents of total value added in the food system, compared to 5.9 cents in 2023.
“While agricultural production remains essential to the entire supply chain, these year-over-year shifts highlight both continued pressure on the crop sector and modest gains in livestock, reinforcing that farm-level value capture remains a small and evolving share of overall food system spending,” the farm bureau said.
The gap is especially clear when comparing minimally processed foods with heavily processed products. Farmers received 69.1 cents of every dollar spent on fresh eggs in 2024, 52.2 cents on beef and 50.8 cents on fresh milk. But for products requiring more processing and branding, the farm share was far smaller: 4.8 cents for bakery products, 9.7 cents for snack foods and just 1.3 cents for soft drinks and bottled water.
The USDA data suggest a fundamental reality of the modern food economy: while farmers and ranchers produce the raw commodities that make the system possible, most of the consumer food dollar is now captured by the industries that process, package, move and sell food.
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