From high inputs to low prices, and even a change in interest rates, it has been a challenging year for the ag industry. Economists say farmers and ranchers have had quite the whirlwind.
“It has been interesting, lots of unexpected turns and uncertainty, and it’s going to set us up for even more uncertainty and surprises into 2025. It’s a farm economy with two outlooks, and one outlook is on the livestock side, especially cow-calf producers. They’re having a pretty strong year when we look at net farm income and the net farm come estimates coming out of USDA, and then the other side of that coin is crop producers, and especially corn and soybeans. In the Midwest, they’re having a really difficult year. So, we sort of have an economy that’s hitting the brakes on one side and hitting the gas on the other side. So, I think that’s going to take a lot of time to move through, to navigate through,” said Dave Widmar.
Trade is another area the industry will have to carefully navigate. Dan Halstrom with the U.S. Meat Export Federation says the markets are already rough, and he looks forward to what a second Trump Administration can accomplish.
“I think the waters are going to be choppy, but honestly, they’re choppy anyway. I think if you look at Trump administration number one, a lot of good things happened: China Phase One, which’s already been mentioned, is very advantageous for the US beef industry. We’re going to be close to $2 billion in sales again this year, and that’s with a tariff. You look at USMCA which we talked about quite a bit. You look at the Japan-U.S. ag agreement, all very much home runs for the U.S. beef and pork industries after 2020. So yes, I think in general, it’s going to be choppy, but I think the administration worked well with us the first time around. I don’t know why it wouldn’t be this time. Like we’ve all talked about, there’s a lot of potential going forward, which will help drive economic growth, and we know agriculture is one of the backbones of economic growth.”
Other groups, like the U.S. Soybean Export Council, say they are not sure what to expect moving forward. 60 percent of U.S. soybeans are exported, and they hope to keep market access open with places like China.
