Increasingly, ‘farm’ and ‘rural’ are not synonymous
More and more of America's farmers rely on off-farm income at the same time that agriculture accounts for a smaller share of rural employment nationwide, said a University of Missouri study on Monday. The analysis, commissioned by agricultural lender CoBank, said the majority of principal farm operators worked off the farm and off-farm income accounted for 82 percent of farm household income.
After Covid’s chill, a hot recovery is at hand
The U.S. economy could grow at its fastest rate — 7 percent — in nearly four decades, with the farm sector sharing in the energetic recovery from the pandemic, said CoBank on Thursday. "Many in the agricultural industry are experiencing the best market conditions since 2013," said the lender in a quarterly assessment of the sector.
Weaker dollar will help meat and dairy but not cotton exports, says CoBank
U.S. farm exports are forecast by the USDA to hit a record $157 billion this year, aided by a weaker dollar against many foreign currencies. Agricultural lender CoBank says the impact will be somewhat uneven, with meat and dairy products benefiting the most.
Farm sector rebounding but may need more aid, says Duvall
The farm economy, battered since 2018 by a trade war and a pandemic, is rallying, though it is too early to declare a return to prosperity, said the president of the largest U.S. farm organization on Thursday, reserving judgment on whether more stopgap federal aid will be needed.
Prospects dim for USMCA this year, says CoBank
U.S. farmers are harvesting crops for the second year in a row under the shadow of hefty tariffs, says agricultural lender CoBank, pointing to uncertainty over trade policy, late-maturing crops and African swine fever. “It is also increasingly unlikely that the United States-Mexico-Canada …
Drought weakens but California farm losses to top $1 billion
California growers will idle less land than previously due to drought but losses will be around $1 billion to $1.5 billion, compared to an estimated $1.8 billion in 2015, says agricultural lender CoBank. Losses would fall heaviest on farmers with corn, wheat, cotton, alfalfa and pasture land.
Rural infrastructure fund makes first investments
The first round of funding for rural infrastructure projects was released by the year-old U.S. Rural Infrastructure Opportunity Fund that mixes public and private capital, said the USDA.