Farm Economy Stronger Than Expected After 2020 Challenges

Dec 01, 2020

By Amy Mayer

Agriculture took a hit from the COVID-19 pandemic, which threatened a newly-signed Phase One trade deal with China and idled many ethanol plants.

“In the spring it was pretty dire for many of the operations in our district,” says David Oppedahl, senior business economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, which covers all of Iowa and parts of Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan. “But now things have improved dramatically, I would say.”

Drought conditions across parts of Iowa and the August derecho tossed a few more challenges at farm fields during the summer, but Oppedahl says after that, the weather cooperated, global markets re-opened with increased demand for diary and pork in particular, and grain prices inched up.

“It’s still a challenging time for farmers especially given everything that has happened this year,” he says, “but it’s not as challenging as we expected.”

Federal trade and pandemic relief payments have helped. A recent survey of bankers shows, for the most part, farmers are making loan payments on time and are borrowing less than expected. Oppedahl says that’s true even though funds are available and interest rates are low.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.