Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service economists say producers should control what they can, and plan for what they can’t.
People need to eat, so grain farmers must keep planting, plowing and harvesting. But a volatile grain market in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic has economists and producers working overtime to plan for this summer’s growing season, according to Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service economists.
“With COVID-19, there is a lot of uncertainty and commodity prices are all over the place,” said Luis Ribera, AgriLife Extension economist and director of the Center for North American Studies at Texas A&M University, College Station. “There are a lot more questions than answers right now. The big question is: When will we reach a peak?”
Ribera said this is the first time the U.S. is experiencing this situation. When H1N1 and SARS occurred, the market reacted, but not at this level because those viruses didn’t propagate as quickly as COVID-19.
“But on the bright side, we still have to eat,” he said. “That’s something that helps agricultural countries like ours. The demand will still be there, it just might not be as strong until we get beyond the virus.”
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