Tag Archives: economy

By Pam Lewis In the Spokesman-Review We are a nation that celebrates with food. Birthdays are synonymous with cake and ice cream. Easter is all about eggs and chocolate. Halloween is everyone’s favorite day for candy (or potatoes if you swing by the Washington State Potato Commission Executive Director’s home). But the ultimate in food-related holidays is Thanksgiving. Read the ... Read More »

From agriculture.com The margins on almost every major crop are set to fall this marketing year, the American Farm Bureau Federation is warning, as rising input costs and export uncertainty further squeeze producers and deepen the need for further assistance.  Read the rest of the article here. Read More »

From RFD-TV Water levels along the Mississippi River have fallen to historic lows again this fall — throttling barge traffic and raising freight costs just as the Midwest harvest reaches full stride. Gauges at St. Louis and Memphis are near record lows, forcing towboats to run lighter and with fewer barges per tow. For farmers moving corn and soybeans to ... Read More »

From agriculture.com Politico’s Grace Yarrow and Meredith Lee Hill reported late last week that “the Trump administration plans to roll out an initial payment of up to $12 billion for farmers hurt by the president’s tariff policies once the government shutdown ends, according to three people familiar with the matter. The finalized amount will come on top of President Donald ... Read More »

From Progressive Farmer Outside of a weather-related supply shock, an outlook for global crop production and supplies by analysts at Rabobank suggests there isn’t much potential for commodity farmers to break even until the 2027-28 crop year. Analysts at Rabobank on Tuesday highlighted their outlook for crops, inputs and profitability by diving into trends affecting global stocks and production. Unfortunately, ... Read More »

From agriculture.com China imported no soybeans from the U.S. in September, the first time since November 2018 that shipments fell to zero, while South American shipments surged from a year earlier, as buyers shunned American cargoes during the ongoing trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies. Read the rest of the article here. Read More »

From Farm Progress When Russia invaded Ukraine three and a half years ago, winter wheat prices skyrocketed. Commodity markets drove prices up to $8.46 per bushel in 2022 — more than $3 higher than in 2020. That’s enough to turn any farmer’s head. This global conflict is reshaping Illinois agriculture. While corn and soybeans still dominate the state’s farmland, farmers ... Read More »

By Mark Schoesler Special to The Seattle Times As a longtime farmer, I fear more farmers in our state will be forced to leave this traditional and important way of life behind. Washington has seen a steady decrease in the number of farms. As a recent Seattle Times story noted (“3,700 WA farms shut down in 5 years. Why?,”) nearly 4,000 farms ... Read More »

From The Chronicle The saying is, “Agriculture is a profession of hope.” But hope in the farm community is waning. Or so says the monthly report from the Purdue Center for Commercial Agriculture. The Purdue/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer’s August results were released earlier this week, painting a dichotomous picture in farming. With the national cattle herd the smallest it ... Read More »

From The Center Square Washington state loses on average two farms a day, with more than 3,700 farms lost between 2017 and 2022, according to the United States Department of Agriculture Census of Agriculture and noted in the recently released “Mental Health and Suicide Prevention for Agricultural Producers and Workers” report compiled by the Washington State Department of Agriculture. Read the rest ... Read More »