The state of the American economy, and even the global economy, is not where it was a year or two ago. There is no way of denying that. Whether or not you want to agree that we are in or facing a recession seems to be based more on political rhetoric and which cable news channel you are watching, than any understanding of economics. To trim down the amount of angry rhetoric I will have fired at me on social media for making that statement, let?s just agree that we are in a tough spot and move on.
We all know that the many sectors of the American economy are symbiotic in nature. The reactions any one of these sectors has in relation to an outside influence will have a ripple effect through the whole economy. Commodities like grains and livestock are not immune to that, and also can cause those ripples at the same time. However, for the standard or casual investors who move money around to the safest harbors on any given day of the week, the Ag economy isn?t necessarily having as big of an impact on their bottom line. For farmers or others who make their living in the Ag industry, it is much more serious than that.
You can listen to economic analysts, ag market analysts, and pundits until it all begins to sound like Charlie Brown?s teacher and the cascade of ?wah-wahs?, but what does it all mean? For that question, I turned to Sam Funk, CEO and economist at AgServe.com to talk with him about the situation. You may recall when we talked with Mr. Funk during the Iowa Farm Bureau Annual Meetings over the past years.
To kick off our discussion, I asked him point-blank what he sees and what he is concerned about within the state of the Ag economy. He compares it to the 80s. Not in a way to scare you that we are heading that direction again, but more of the fact that we are seeing many influences affecting the marketplace for the first time in a few decades. The issue is, that those who lived through it are retiring, and it is a baptism by fire for those economists coming up.
While it is easy to think back and make comparisons to the 1980s, Funk cautions us to also look a the fact that this day and age is providing us a whole set of unique challenges that we have no prior manuals to look back on.
This is just the start of a deep discussion I had with Sam Funk. Be watching in the coming days for us to keep digging into the topic of the current state of the Ag economy.
