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Swine lender: global conflict fueling farm cost volatility

Market disruptions caused by the conflict in the Middle East are impacting pork producers.

Swine lender Chris Ford with Farm Credit Services of America says the rise in global oil prices is being felt across agriculture.

“Which has a direct impact on diesel, which pretty much everything on the farm is driven off diesel. Whether it be crop inputs, vehicles, those sorts of things. So that’s having a pretty significant impact. Plus then you see just the volatility the (conflict) creates in the interest rate (and) bond markets.”

He tells Brownfield fixed rates have risen since the conflict began.

“So the hope is when we see some of that calm down, we’ll see the oil market get back into shape and we’ll see our bond markets kind of get more in line to where we need to be at this time.”

Brownfield interviewed Ford at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines last week.