News

Widmar discusses state of the farm economy

An ag economist says the farm economy is currently a tale of two stories.

David Widmar with Agricultural Economic Insights tells Brownfield, “The real pain here is with crop producers. It’s sort of the farm economy with two stories and the one story is livestock is doing better than average, and crop producers are doing worse than average. We’re helping producers navigate that and prepare for 2025.”

He says net farm income has fallen this year. “If you measure that as a fall from the peak in 2022, it looks pretty dramatic, but those were the best of times. And so anytime we leave the best of times, it’s a little bit painful. We see a farm economy here today that’s still at a better level than we would expect over the long run average.”

Widmar says producers continue to face a high-cost structure heading into 2025.

NAFB TRADE TALK INTERVIEW: David Widmar with Agricultural Economic Insights