UNITED STATES 

February Prices Received Index Up 4.9 Percent 

The February Prices Received Index (Agricultural Production), at 89.4, increased 4.9 percent from January 2019. At 83.9, the Crop Production Index increased 8.5 percent. The Livestock Production Index, at 94.7, decreased 2.6 percent. Producers received higher prices for cattle, corn, lettuce, and milk but lower prices for broilers, market eggs, strawberries, and soybeans. Compared with a year earlier, the Prices Received Index is down 2.0 percent. The Crop Production Index decreased 3.5 percent and the Livestock Production Index increased 0.5 percent. The indexes are calculated using commodity prices and volumes of commodities that producers market. Increased monthly movement of cattle, milk, broilers, and greenhouse & nursery offset the decreased marketing of corn, soybeans, tobacco, and wheat. The Food Commodities Index, at 94.0, increased 1.7 percent from the previous month but decreased 1.6 percent from February 2018. 

February Prices Paid Index Up 0.5 Percent 

The February Prices Paid Index for Commodities and Services, Interest, Taxes, and Farm Wage Rates (PPITW), at 109.9, is up 0.5 percent from January 2019 and 0.8 percent from February 2018. Higher prices in February for herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and other, and nitrogen more than offset lower prices for feeder cattle, feeder pigs, complete feeds, and potash and phosphate.