Ag Economy in 2022 Pt 2
I’m Bob Larson. So, in spite of all the challenges the ag industry has dealt with since the pandemic began, and before, a new year doesn’t mean they’re all just going away.
Rabobank’s Steve Nicholson says ag producer survived the restaurant closures in the beginning, but other challenges remain like labor, supply chain, and the biggest of them all …
NICHOLSON … “Oh, it’s the input costs side. It’s the first thing I heard when I walked in here today. You talk to farmers, that’s what they’re struggling with is trying to keep up with the input costs and how do I manage my input costs and manage my margins and keep those altogether. And that’s on everyone’s mind.”
Other challenges, Nicholson says are political in nature and involve exports …
NICHOLSON … “Geopolitical issues. My concern is there on the trade front, you know, you now have a lot more players in that world where, when the U.S. was kind of front and center of the world, that wouldn’t happen as much. But now that we’ve, in some ways, we’ve stepped back a little bit from that, but a lot of players, like Turkey and Pakistan, who can make a lot of havoc in the world.”
And the big names, Nicholson says are still there …
NICHOLSON … “You know, China’s trying to grow and Putin is still in Russia, whether you like him or not, creates lots of havoc. So, I think that uncertainty around those issues creates problems in the ag markets because it could be good today and not so good tomorrow.”
But keep in mind, Nicholson says ag has faired pretty well through it all.
