U.S. farm income last year probably exceeded the 2004 record of $87.3 billion, according to Neil Harl, an agricultural economist at Iowa State University.

The United Nations reported that global food costs jumped 25 percent last year to an all-time high in December. Countries probably spent at least $1 trillion on imports, with the poorest paying as much as 20 percent more than in 2009. Governments from Beijing to Belgrade are boosting imports, limiting sales or releasing stockpiles to curb food inflation. Higher prices will push U.S. agricultural exports up 16 percent to a record $126.5 billion this year, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecast. Commodity prices are expected to keep rising.

The farm boom is aiding President Barack Obama’s goal of doubling U.S. exports in five years, with this year’s shipments accounting for 4 percent of the $3.14 trillion needed to meet the target.

In the United States, the largest food-exporting nation, retail food prices rose 1.5 percent last year and will increase as little as 2 percent in 2011, the USDA estimates.