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Unprecedented risk adding to uncertainty for farmers
An ag economist says the ongoing volatility the farm sector continues to battle could be the last straw for the senior generation of farmers, and it could result in a shift in farm ownership.
Jim Mintert is head of Purdue University’s Center for Commercial Agriculture. “There’s this overall level of angst and anxiety with respect to what’s going to take place going forward,” he says. “And who that is going to affect operations.”
He tells Brownfield it may not be a huge uptick in retirements. “The level of uncertainty out there and the level of risk they’re facing is almost unprecedented,” he says. “And that is probably encouraging some folks on that side of the coin to make some changes.”
Mintert says agriculture isn’t alone, uncertainty exists throughout the entire US economy.
