OldMac, can't speak for everywhere, but locally, I would be willing to bet that there has been a negative profit for most operators for decades. All supported by off farm income. People just want to farm, profit is often just a notional thing. 
Go back through centuries of serfdom, most farmers did not have profit. 

Equates is likely an accurate term. By the time you figure in bankruptcies, off farm income, burning equity, etc.  
Of course some operations will show a profit some years, some a loss. The promise of those good years with good management is what motivates. If profits were a regular guaranteed occurrence, then the family farm would have gone away a long time ago.   

The industry as an average may make money, but that doesn't mean that the average producer did, depending on scale and what point in his career he is at.   Doesn't take many multy million dollar operations at a profit to exceed the losses of lots of smaller operations