What is an Agricultural Producer?

An agricultural producer is a rancher or farmer. These parties produce crops, or breed livestock, or feed livestock prior to slaughter through day-to-day labor and field operations. A producer can be further defined as a landlord, owner-operator, sharecropper or tenant that participates in the risks of production and is entitled to a share of the proceeds.

Example of an Agricultural Producer

The following are all examples of agricultural producers:

A rancher located in a high plains area maintains a herd of 500 cattle, which he shifts between pastures depending on the season, and then sells to a slaughterhouse when the cattle reach a target weight. This is an agricultural producer.
A farmer specializes in producing organically-produced eggs, and does so by maintaining several thousand chickens that are free to move throughout his small farm holding. This is an agricultural producer.
A farmer grows wheat on a substantial farm located in the Midwest. He buys and sells futures to lock in the price of wheat at the most advantageous level, and sometimes rents additional land from neighbors to grow additional wheat when the price is right. This is an agricultural producer.