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Abstract
Realized net income of farm operators reached a postwar high of 16.8 billion dollars in .1947
and declined to a postwar low of 12.4 billion dollars in 1950. These estimates are for
calendar years. On a quarterly basis, in terms of seasonally adjusted annual rates, the
postwar high was 17.9 billion dollars in the first quarter of 1947, and the postwar low was
11.7 billion dollars in the second quarter of 1950. Thus, farmers' net income actually
declined 35 percent during a period of a little more than 8 years as compared with a drop of
only 26 percent indicated by the annual data. It is evident that the annual estimates do not
measure the full swing from high to low. To overcome this handicap in the historical record
of farm income, and to provide a foundation for more frequent and more up-to-date appraisal
of the farm income situation in the future, this paper presents a new quarterly series on gross
and net realized income of farm operators in terms of seasonally adjusted annual rates for
1929-53. These estimates will be published regularly henceforth in The Farm Income
Situation.