News

CoBank report focuses on economic impact of COVID-19

A quarterly report from CoBank sheds light on the economic impacts COVID-19 has had on the country and agriculture so far.

Will Sawyer, lead economist for animal protein, tells Brownfield they expect a 15 to 20% decline in economic growth in the US in the second quarter.

“The range of economic outlooks are wide, but they are also very negative, so we in agriculture are benefiting from being more farm focused than plate focused and I think that is helping to insulate us from some of that pain.”

He says whether or not that transfers into the third and fourth quarters will depend on how soon restaurants and other businesses open up.

“It is a little early to call, but it has been a challenging last month for many in the sector. We are starting to make the right moves to right size where we are relative to where the consumer is.”

More information from the report, including specific commodity summaries can be heard in our interview with Sawyer below or by clicking here.