UNITED STATES 

March Prices Received Index Up 2.8 Percent 

The March Prices Received Index (Agricultural Production), at 91.9, increased 2.8 percent from February 2019. At 85.7, the Crop Production Index increased 2.1 percent. 

The Livestock Production Index, at 97.5, increased 3.0 percent. Producers received higher prices for lettuce, cattle, milk, and broilers but lower prices for market eggs, grapefruit, peanuts, and wheat. 

Compared with a year earlier, the Prices Received Index is down 3.4 percent. The Crop Production Index decreased 2.6 percent and the Livestock Production Index decreased 2.2 percent. 

The indexes are calculated using commodity prices and volumes of commodities that producers market. Increased monthly movement of strawberries, cattle, milk, and calves offset the decreased marketing of cotton, apples, greenhouse & nursery, and soybeans. 

The Food Commodities Index, at 97.2, increased 3.4 percent from the previous month but decreased 2.7 percent from March 2018. 

March Prices Paid Index Up 0.1 Percent 

The March Prices Paid Index for Commodities and Services, Interest, Taxes, and Farm Wage Rates (PPITW), at 110.6, is up 0.1 percent from February 2019 and 1.5 percent from March 2018. 

Higher prices in March for feeder pigs, diesel, gasoline, and hay and forages more than offset lower prices for field crops, other services, nitrogen, and herbicides.