Chad Hart, associate professor, was interviewed at the Missouri Valley Crop Fair in Missouri Valley, Iowa, for a Feb. 25 Brownfield Ag News for America story, "Ag economist discusses coronavirus, potential for another market rally."
Iowa State University crop marketing specialist Chad Hart says he had concerns about the global economy even before the coronavirus outbreak.
“We are starting to see cracks, if you will, in the global economy. It’s starting to slow down and when the global economy slows down, demand for ag products tends to drop,” Hart says, “and we’re seeing that in the crop markets as we’ve looked over the past six months.”
“I’m looking for that to happen again for both the corn and soybean crops,” he says. “If we think back, corn got up to 4.70 December corn futures. If the flooding is to the extent we saw this past year, I think we could touch that level again. On soybeans, we weren’t that far away from having triple digits last year. We could pull it off again if we’re having those delays in planting.
Hart was also interviewed for a Feb. 21 Des Moines Register story, "Iowa Manufacturing gets Some Good News-- But Trade, International Concerns Temper Optimism."
Iowa State University economist Chad Hart said farmers are now waiting for exports to increase. When commodity prices for soybeans and corn improve, they’ll start looking at a new tractor, he said. He cautioned, however, that the uptick may take a while. "Incomes have stabilized," he said. "But that's because of government supports, and farmers have been told that will shrink this year."
The Trump administration sent $28 billion in assistance in two waves in 2018 and 2019, helping farmers survive the trade wars. Farmers snagged $9 billion. Experts say they will receive another $14.5 billion from the 2019 assistance, which is still being distributed.
"They're not going to leverage their future, go out and buy that big piece of equipment, until they know they have the income to cover that expense," Hart said.