According to the USDA, farmers receive only 11.8 cents of each dollar spent on food they produced in the USA in 2014.
According to the USDA, farmers receive only 11.8 cents of each dollar spent on food they produced in the USA in 2014.
https://ers.usda.gov/data-products/charts-of-note/chart-detail?chartId=114074&cpid=email
In 2024, U.S. farm establishments received 11.8 cents per dollar spent on domestically produced food sold at places such as grocery stores and restaurants. This farm share and all data in the chart, including the 2023 share of 12.1 cents, are the result of a comprehensively revised Food Dollar model. In 2024, the remaining 88.2 cents per food dollar is the marketing share, which covers post-farm costs, such as transporting, processing, and selling food to consumers. One of the factors behind the long-term downward trend in the farm share is an increasing proportion of food-away-from-home spending (e.g., food from restaurants), which has a higher marketing share because of the added costs of preparing and serving meals. USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) updated the Food Dollar in 2026, which included changes to the methodology and source data. More information on the revisions to the Food Dollar can be found in the ERS report, A More Detailed Food Dollar: Enhanced Accounting of U.S. Food Costs. The data for this chart can be found in the ERS Food Dollar data product, updated March 10, 2026.
