Meyer: Farm Economy Expect To Continue Strong Trends Into 2022

According to USDA Chief Economist Seth Meyer, the 2022 Agricultural outlook is strong, but with uncertainties in eastern Europe and South America. He recently told the 98^th Annual Ag Outlook Forum that domestic demand is solid, and exports are strong, pointing to record exports over the past calendar year. And that trend he noted is expected to continue, with exports expected to climb this fiscal year by more than $10 billion to more than $183 billion.

“Clearly China has been one of the drivers in improvement in the trade picture. I think I could also read this a couple of other different ways, which is, despite the fact that we’ve seen rising prices, many of our traditional trading partners have held up their demand. As a matter of fact, Mexico is expected to be our number two trading partner.” 

But many are concerned the war in Ukraine could impact trade and even food prices.

“I think it’s too early to talk about Ukraine, as it relates to Europe," Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack said during Outlook forum, "but I think from a U.S. perspective, I don’t foresee a circumstance where American consumers, on the food side, are necessarily going to (be) impacted and see the kind of impact and effect those European consumers would see.”

That’s largely due to the vast U.S. production capacity that USDA is working to expand even more post-pandemic. Vilsack announced $150 millions in grants to build and expand meat processing capacity, with some $500 million to follow this summer, plus $40 million now for worker training and $25 million for technical help.

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