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Ag economy is a tale of two farms
An ag economist is expecting another tough year for crop farmers.
Paul Mitchell with the University of Wisconsin Department of Agriculture and Applied Economics tells Brownfield the balance sheets look okay for some and terrible for others. “The dairy and the beef people are looking okay relative to what they’ve seen, so it’s sort of a tale of two farms. Which one is your major source of income? Are you more of a grain crop producer? Times are tough for you. If you’re more of a beef or dairy cattle producer, you might be in better shape than you were a year ago.”
Mitchell says the 2025 outlook for grain farmers is no better than it is now. “The margins are tight now and they’re projected to be worse for 2025, the crop year we’re in, so there’s a lot of cutting back on costs and finding ways to squeeze your costs down to deal with that.”
Mitchell says one good thing for crop farmers is some input costs have stabilized or have trended downward, but it’s not enough to make crop farmers profitable. “We’re talking energy, even land rent has kind of stabilized. I think the pressures we’ve been seeing with that will diminish with these thin margins or negetive margins. Fertilizer prices, everything’s been kind of sideways. Nothing is really going like it was crazy, but the margins are just not there.”
Mitchell says the crop farmers who are either renting land or paying for a mortgage are hurting the most right now.
Audio: Paul Mitchell discusses the farm economy with Brownfield’s Larry Lee