The forecast for farming in 2025 and beyond is not a good one. That’s according to one of the country’s leading ag economists and his most recent survey of farmers.
“That outlook is something we present to Washington every year, and this is the worst one we’ve ever taken in and shown them,” says Dr. Joe Outlaw, professor and extension economist at Texas A&M University. “And the problem is, is that we forecast out the next five years, and unless some sort of policy change gets made with the prices where they look to be going, farmers would endure loss after loss after loss, which would build. It’d be the worst outlook.”
Outlaw says a new farm bill would help, but it’s going to take more than that.
“Because this is my eighth one, I’ve been around a lot of them, I think that we’re going to get elements of a farm bill and some other piece of legislation, which would be the key things that farmers need. Maybe we don’t get a farm bill in name like a lot of people want ’til later in the year or something, but I think some of the elements that farmers need for their safety net will be included in something else.”
He says all it would take to get a new farm bill across the finish line is money.
“They’ve got to agree to the savings and what they’re going to take money from. And as we stand here today, they need about $50 billion to do the new farm bill, where people would want to have a farm bill. I mean, why have one if you’re not going to make significant improvements?”
Outlaw says that sounds like a lot of money, but that’s adding $5 billion a year for 10 years, and that’s the way that they do the budget forecasting, over 10 years.
Source: NAFB News Service
