Kirk Maltais of The Wall Street Journal reports that grain prices have been in free fall since the Covid commodity boom ended, forcing some growers to consider difficult changes. Maltais writes:
The U.S. farm belt is headed for a bumper crop. Few farmers are celebrating, though.
Grain prices, under pressure since the Covid commodity boom crested, have fallen further in 2024. Rainfall has been ample across farm country for the first time in years, staving off the drought that has plagued the central U.S. and putting Midwestern corn and soybean harvests on track to set records.
That is intensifying what was already shaping up as a dismal year financially on the farm. Budgets drawn up in the spring are no longer viable. Persistently high costs for farm essentials such as seeds and fertilizer are gobbling up revenue. […]
He’s also delaying buying new machinery. Muirheid said that he will continue to use his 15-year-old combine and his 20-year-old planter. Deere & Co.this month reported that third-quarter equipment sales in its production and precision agriculture division fell 25% from a year earlier.
The cost to rent land to farm on has also climbed in recent years, becoming a bigger portion of farm expenses. “Rent has gone up every year for a long time,” said Muirheid.
In February, the USDA forecast that net farm incomes would drop by a quarter this year. Economists at the University of Illinois say farmers in the state are likely to lose as much as $118 per acre of corn and $81 an acre for soybeans. The pain could be even worse if prices don’t rebound.
Read more here.
Also, read Deep Cuts Announced to Navigate Farm Economy Downturn
