A survey was sent to 70 of the top “agricultural economists nationwide” in order to gather opinions on crucial agricultural drivers ‘ perspectives. The Farm Journal’s Ag Economists ‘ Monthly Monitor was released. A small minority of economists, 56 %, believe the industry will end in a recession in 2024, according to the most recent survey, compared to 53 % who predicted the same in October. Additionally, a whopping 81 % ( compared to only 56 % who said the same thing in October ) claimed that the US agricultural economy is on the verge of a recession.  ,
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Commodity charges, high interest rates, and the aquatic flu are some of the problems hurting the company business, but the review wasn’t all gloom and doom. What is the one aspect of the company market that isn’t being discussed or covered enough by the media right now, the economists asked. Some of the responses came down to how the media handled Donald Trump and his incoming management.  ,
One analyst flat-out stated that the media’s anger may become having an impact:  ,
The internet seems consumed with the drawbacks of a Trump administration/Republican combination. It’s definitely good to be aware of the challenges with any democratic transition, but more ahead thinking on what is good, would be good: the outlook for taxes, biofuels policy, trade deals with agriculture included, deregulation all seem to be possible positives we could be talking about more.”
While a few others mentioned political confusion and an uncertain future, as well as the fact that a “potential price war is being downplayed, despite published studies measuring expected collection of destruction, others said the issue over the tariff threat was terrible because we’ve already seen a Trump administration before, and other countries can’t afford not to do business with us.  ,
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China, Europe, Mexico and people know what to expect out of Trump. They’ve seen it before. All is eschewed from the possibility that Trump’s tax danger might lead to some pre-emptive business partnerships that benefit us here in the says. The United States is the largest consumer products consumer in the world. They didn’t manage to cut us off. Notice that I said consumer products, never goods
Of course, some of the economics had another concerns for 2025 that had little to nothing to do with the coming Trump presidency. Other factors that could have an impact on agriculture in 2025 included the decline in Brazilian currency, North American production, cash rent prices that are still great despite low crop prices, struggling South African farmers, congressional efforts to provide natural disaster aid, and attitudes toward alternate land use. The Clean Energy Generation Credit was also attacked by one of the economists, who claimed that it encourages “large inflows of foreign feedstocks at the cost of figuratively domestic feedstocks” and that it benefits energy producers rather than farmers. ”  ,
Overall, the group surveyed predicts that many farmers will leave the industry this year, and many farms will be consolidated, similar to what happened between 2014 and 2015, the last time the country was in a commodity downcycle. We should all pay more attention to this in 2025 because this is one industry that literally has an immediate impact on everyone in the nation. And while I’m not holding my breath, let’s hope and pray that the media takes notice of these warnings. The Monthly Monitor of Ag Economists is available for reading here.  ,
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