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Aid packages propping up ag and prices

Ad hoc aid bringing stability to agriculture.  

Gary Schnitkey, farm management specialist with the University of Illinois, says despite the uncertainty around several aspects of ag, the landscape would be even shakier without recent aid packages.

“Which would include ECAP in 2025, farmer bridge payments in 2026, and any additional aid package all sort of keeping everything stable,” he says.

He tells Brownfield the drawback is that the aid is also keeping prices elevated.

“In some sense, farmers are acting as the pass-through agent here.”  He says, “We would most likely have seen cost declines both in cash rent and other inputs had that aid not come through. So, it’s a catch-22.”

Schnitkey says producers need higher commodity prices driven by market demand in order to lessen reliance on federal aid packages.

Brownfield spoke with Schnitkey at the Illinois Society of Professional Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers Land Values Conference in Bloomington.

AUDIO: Gary Schnitkey – University of Illinois