The last two years have been difficult for most of the farm country. Ag economists are crunching the numbers and say it is anyone’s guess what this year will bring.
“Well, I think the economy in 2025 is going to be pretty good in terms of growth and how it’s improving. I don’t think there’s going to be a recession unless something crazy happens in the world, but certainly people are still feeling the effects of all the inflation and having to work extra hard to sort of keep up with that,” said Dr. Jeff Dorfman, an economist at NC State University.
Dorfman says it will be important to pay close attention to the markets this year. He also says you should aim for value, not necessarily volume.
“The idea for any business owner is not to do as much business as possible, but to make as much money as possible. So if you can do some value-added processing, if you can cut out some middlemen, whatever you can do to improve the profitability of your operation is more important than trying just to get more acres or more yield. It’s not about how much you produce, it’s how much you make.”
Farmer sentiment has been drifting lower recently. The latest Ag Economy Barometer fell 9 points after a brief rebound.
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