The Year Ahead: Forces that will shape the US rural economy in 2024
Brian Cavey, Brian Earnest, Tanner Ehmke, Rob Fox, Corey Geiger, Thomas Halverson, Jeff Johnston, Christina Pope, Billy Roberts, and Teri Viswanath
The U.S. economy continues to outperform expectations despite a string of adversity – the pandemic, rampant inflation, and the Federal Reserve’s extreme monetary tightening policies. The strength of the job market plus big infrastructure investments should spur ongoing economic growth in rural America. However, potential pitfalls are on the horizon: Congress continues to delay progress on the Farm Bill and trade policy while consumers are irrationally pessimistic about the future. After a two-year stretch of record profitability, the farm economy is headed toward transition in 2024: Commodity prices have slid closer to historic norms but farming expenses have not. However, global and domestic food supplies are still relatively tight, which should keep farm incomes from falling too far.
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