The team of Gary Schnitkey and Jonathan Coppess from the University of Illinois gave an update on the farm economy during a presentation at the Crop Insurance and Reinsurance Bureau annual meeting this week.
“We’re seeing deteriorating financial conditions on many farms and we’re likely to continue to see that as long as we have corn prices below four dollars a bushel,” said Schnitkey. He noted that the ARC-County and PLC risk management programs in the 2014 Farm Bill did help some farmers. “The ARC County payment is working as it was designed, it made payments as prices came down, but those payments will transition out over time.” Interview with Gary Schnitkey, Univ. of Ill
Coppess, who served as USDA Farm Service Agency administrator under President Obama, says as negotiations begin for the next farm bill the budget will be a limiting factor. “It’s a zero sum game to increase spending in anything,” he said. “There’s a lot of concern about how effective the programs are and what farmers are going to need to weather the economic downturn. But changing things costs money that will have to be offset somewhere else.” Interview with Jonathan Coppess, Univ. of Ill
Listen to their presentations here: Schnitkey-Coppess on Farm Economy at #CIRB2017