How many cents of every dollar do farmers receive?

• A. 11.6
• B. 5.0
• C. 20.0
• D. 15.2

Answer: (A)

Think of the consumer food dollar being split across many steps in the food system. Farmers get only a portion of that dollar because most of the money goes to processing, packaging, transporting, wholesale and retail costs, and marketing. In this context, about 11.6 cents of every dollar spent on food goes back to farmers for their production, which fits the typical range shown in these materials. If you imagine a $1 food purchase, roughly $0.116 goes to farmers, while the rest covers the rest of the supply chain. The other options are outside the shown share for this question, which is why 11.6 cents is the correct figure.