USDA Chief Economist Seth Meyer says farmers face uncertainty about demand from both U.S. consumers and China as they head into planting season.
Meyer's outlook for the farm economy, released during USDA's annual Agricultural Outlook Forum, projects lower prices for most major crops, as input costs remain elevated and there is growing export competition for U.S. producers, but there are "big question marks" about the forecast, he says.
“What does demand in China look like, and what does demand in the United States look like in terms of consumers ability to continue to purchase the meat, the beef, the pork that they like,” Meyer says in an interview with Agri-Pulse Newsmakers.
But even with the uncertainty of global weather, commerce and geopolitics, Meyer says several underlying trends are worth noting as observers follow the farm economy in the future.
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“I think back to historical situations, similar where we have sharply falling commodity prices, and again, inputs that tend to fall more slowly. That ends up being a couple of challenging years in terms of returns for producers,” he says.
Mac Marshall with the United Soybean Board and Krista Swanson with the National Corn Growers Association also join Agri-Pulse Newsmakers to share their thoughts on the 2024 farm economy.
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