By Illinois Radio Network
CHICAGO – An agriculture downturn is hitting the Midwest, and there’s not much farmers can do about it except be patient and efficient, an economist at a Tuesday forum in Chicago said.
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Senior Business Economist David Oppedahl said members of the agricultural community discussed decreased profits for the industry throughout the Midwest region. He said lower receipts in crops and livestock are hitting farmers hard, and things could be bumping along the bottom for a while.
“It’s not like the 1980 downturn,” Oppedahl said. “It’s not that steep and that challenging, but at the same time, there’s nothing that is immediately going to lead to an upturn.”
This hits farmers hard, but it also hits agribusiness services hard too, Oppedahl said.
“It’s impacting things like the farm-equipment sector, as there’s been a big cutback on the purchases there.”
Oppedahl also said diminished agriculture profits lead to rural population declines.
“So it’s not just a story of agriculture being down a little bit now, but there really are some bigger issues there that make it challenging for rural areas to grow their economy right now.”
Oppedahl said there’s not much farmers can do in the meantime.
“There’s just got to be a lot of adjustments to costs in production, and those that are most efficient will do best in the next few years, at least.”
Oppedahl said there’s no easy answer to reverse the downturn, especially with ongoing trade and regulatory uncertainty.
Presentations from the forum should be available on the Fed’s website sometime next week, ChicagoFed.org.
