Purdue faculty provide insight on critical issues facing farmers in 2021

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – This past year was filled with uncertainty in the agricultural markets. A lingering trade war, weather issues, and the COVID-19 pandemic impacted prices and brought change to all parts of the agricultural value chain. One of the biggest questions is whether these issues will continue to disrupt agricultural markets into 2021.

Each year, experts from the Purdue University’s Department of Agricultural Economics review the economic conditions from the previous year and look ahead to what the agricultural sector can expect in the coming year. Those findings are published in the Purdue Agricultural Economics Report Annual Outlook Issue.

Brady Brewer, assistant professor and one of the report’s editors, analyzes trends in the financial sector and believes the agricultural economy can expect these same issues to continue influencing markets into 2021.

“This year has been full of unprecedented disruptions to the agricultural economy,” Brewer said. “Even though we did see farm incomes increase, as well as an improvement in farmer sentiment at the end of 2020, there’s still an expectation that we will continue to see volatility and uncertainty in the agricultural economy into 2021.”

To read the full Purdue Agricultural Economics Report Outlook Issue, visit https://purdue.ag/paer. The report also provides an outlook for the following agricultural topics:

• Farmland values and cash rents.
• Trade policy: What should we expect from a Biden administration?
• Agricultural credit: Loans, interest rates, credit market.
• Dairy marketplace: Supply chain adjustments, consumption shifts.
• Retail food prices: Volatility and uncertainty.
• Purdue crop cost and return guide.
• Corn and soybean price outlook. 

Writer: Kami Goodwin, kami@purdue.edu 

Source: Brady Brewer, bebrewer@purdue.edu