Ag Economy

As part of the National Ag Day Celebration this week, the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture released its annual Feeding the Economy Report.  The data shows food and agriculture industries and their suppliers contribute over $8.6 trillio...

It’s been a downward week for oil prices, with prices dropping roughly $10 per barrel in the past seven days.  West Texas Crude was trading in the mid-$60 range in Monday’s action.  Patrick DeHaan with GasBuddy said last week, oil investors were concerned about the health of the U.S. economy.  He noted that conc...

The latest federal data shows that in 2021, the U.S. food and beverage manufacturing sector employed 1.7 million people, or more than 1.1% of all U.S. nonfarm employment.  Within the U.S. manufacturing sector, food and beverage manufacturing employees accounted for the largest share of employees, 15.4%.  Acco...

Tractor unit sales in both the U.S. and Canada remain near their five-year average while combine harvesters in both countries continue triple-digit growth.   The latest data from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers released this week shows that overall U.S. a...

One of the serious issues for beginning, small, or underserved farmers is the lack of access to credit.  And ask anyone who’s farmed for a while, without credit, it's almost impossible for any farmer to make it.   “This is what I feel like I was brought to the agency for is to help improve access to credit especially to those underserved populations.”   FSA Adminis...

The Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer dropped five points to 125 in February.  Farmers’ perspectives regarding both current conditions on their farms and their expectations for the future also weakened during the month.  The Index of ...

USDA’s March crop production reports and supply and demand estimates showed minor changes this week.  The U.S. orange production forecast rose slightly month over month, yet will still be down 25% year over year.    Turning to domestic commodity balance sheets, an upward adjustment in ending stocks for corn led to a decrease of 10 cents to the season ending average price, now at $6.60 a bushel. 

The U.S. economy will progressively slow through the first half of this year, and recession fears are still high, and warranted.  That assessment from CoBank, adding inflation is starting to loosen its grip on farm country.  While a slowing economy does mean that impact of inflation is expected to diminish, that also means the crop prices, and lesser extent livestock prices producers receive in 20

Creighton University’s most recent monthly Rural Mainstreet Index Survey, was primarily sideways, that according to survey organizer Ernie Goss.  He noted the Federal Reserve raising interest rates has cooled economic activity, but not as much as the Fed Reserve would like.  Goss anticipa...

The Ag economist for the Washington State Department of Agriculture says 2023 is shaping up to be a good year for the farm economy across the Evergreen state.  Madi Roy says the Washington farm economy is fairly stable right now, but many are proceeding with caution.  One of ...