By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent URBANA, Ill. — A study conducted by the Illinois Farm Business Farm Management Assoc. (FBFM), along with the University of Illinois, confirmed what many rural dwellers already knew: Farm family living expenses are on the rise.
In 2006 the total non-capital living expenses of 1,196 farm families enrolled in the Illinois FBFM averaged $54,944, or $4,583 per month, according to the study.
The average was 4.3 percent higher than in 2005 and 4.6 percent more than in 2004.
“Family living expenses include income taxes, medical expenses, health insurance and donations – not just food and clothing,” said Gary Goodwin of the Western Illinois FBFM Assoc., located in Toulon in Stark County.
“And we do break out the family living capital expenses like a new car, addition to a house, etc.”
Another $4,692 per family was used to buy capital items, raising the grand total average to $59,686 in 2006, compared with $58,285 in 2005 – a $1,401 increase per family. The average amount spent per family for capital items was $850 less, while non-capital expenses rose by $2,251 per family, according to the survey.
The sample farms were located mainly in central and northern Illinois. Operations surveyed were mainly grain farms.
Goodwin, with colleague Roberta Boar-man, handles 220 farms in Peoria, Stark, Knox and Henry counties.
“From those farms, we have 270 farmers and do 650 tax returns for those families,” he said.
FBFM is a cooperative educational service program designed to assist farmers with management decisions and help with business and family records.
FBFM also provides computer-assisted record processing and financial and production business analysis reports. Farm analysis specialists, such as Goodwin, meet regularly with clients throughout the year.
FBFM works in concert with the University of Illinois Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics and Extension, the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences and local FBFM groups.
The entire report is online at www.farmdoc.uiuc.edu/manage/index.asp This farm news was published in the June 27, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. |
