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With lower crop prices and unchanged input prices, many farmers are wondering if their margins are enough to survive. Kansas Farm Management Association data shows that farm income has become more dependent on crop production and less on livestock income. From the mid-1980s to mid-1990s, crop and livestock income were fairly equal, but since then, crop income has become more important. Livestock income increased over 20 years but didn't keep pace with crop income. There's a correlation between increases in one and decreases in the other.

Comparing crop-only farms to those with at least half of their time and management devoted to livestock (50/50 farms), net farm income was fairly equal through the 1990s, with 50/50 farms having a slight edge. During the mid-2000s crop price surge, crop-only farms' net farm income increased more than 50/50 farms.

Splitting the 20-year period into three parts, 50/50 farms averaged a $6,000 net farm income per year from 1984-1999, and a $21,000 advantage from 2000-2005. However, from 2006-2013, crop-only farms averaged $74,000 higher net farm incomes. This led to a decrease in livestock production as farmers focused on more profitable crops.

In 2014, the high-profitable quartile had 46% of gross income from livestock, compared to 9% for the low-profitable quartile. This difference has changed over time, with the top quartile having over 50% of income from livestock in 2000, dropping to below 10% in 2008, and then increasing again. The low quartile remained steady at around 30% until the late 2000s and early 2010s when both groups had about 20% of income from livestock.